Protector
by Foxwithgrayeyes
Summary: Dumbledore urges Snape to look after Harry after witnessing the Dursley's abuse and Snape reluctantly becomes parent figure to a very small Harry Potter. Please r&r! :  Do it, you won't regret it. No slash. at all.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I know there are quite a few fics involving Snape taking care of Harry out there but I've always loved the idea myself and I wanted to try my hand at it. Please read and review and constructive criticism is always appreciated! Enjoy! Oh. and I don't own Harry Potter. But you all knew that already, didn't you?

* * *

"I won't do it." Snape snapped. "I cannot take the Potter boy."

"Severus, you must trust me. He is too important to the entire Wizarding world to be thus abused."

Snape sniffed. "A little tough love never hurt anyone," he said, and immediately felt mortified that those words had come out of his mouth.  
"It isn't tough love, or love of any sort Severus," Albus said seriously. "It is abuse."

"I know headmaster." Severus responded grimly.

Dumbledore had just checked on one year old Harry at the Dursley's and was intensely perplexed by what he had seen.  
"They don't feed him, Severus. They don't hold him. They yell at him when he cries. A child cannot take all that. He will die," Albus knew Snape did not like the idea one bit, but Harry's life was crucial.

Snape remained stone-faced and said nothing.  
Dumbledore lowered his voice. "Severus, you know the Dark Lord is not gone. Those who believe that are simply choosing to live in ignorance. Yes, he is defeated for now but he will come back and Harry must be alive. You know why, better than anyone."  
Snape nodded severely. He did not know Voldemort's plans, but he had been told many times that were the Dark Lord to be killed "provisions had been made". Only little Harry had been able to beat him once. He could not be allowed to die at the hands of Muggles. And yet. Snape would not be his caretaker.  
"What you ask of me is…" Snape struggled to find the word. He couldn't say too hard. It wasn't weakness that prevented him from taking the boy. It was the fact that the boy was a Potter- James' son.  
"It is unreasonable," he finally managed. "What of your theory? You say Lily's love is what protected the boy. That he will only be safe with the Dursley's."

"Unless he dies." Albus tried to speak as gently as he could. "Severus, we have time. You can return the boy when he is a little stronger. Seven, or eight. He's just too small, too young to take this now,"

Severus bowed his head defeated. The small Potter boy was also Lily's son. "As you say, Headmaster."

* * *

As Severus made his way to the Dursely's residence on Privet Drive he could not believe he was actually doing this. In an attempt to be discreet he was driving a small black Mini cooper which Dumbledore had, for some reason, been stowing in the Room of Requirement. He had argued with Dumbledore for almost two hours about possible alternatives, even after agreeing to take the boy, but Dumbledore had remained rigid.

"You will be able to defend him. And you won't spoil him too much. He will have to return to the Dursley's eventually. Besides Severus, I trust you."

That's what Albus had said. Well if that's what trust got him, then maybe he ought to start acting a little more suspiciously. Severus parked the car and walked up the long walkway to the front door of Number 4. He rang the bell and stood, waiting. He could hear the healthy screaming of a baby inside.

"The Potter boy has healthy lungs," Snape muttered, tapping his foot. "I'm sure I'll enjoy that."

The door opened and a long-necked, horsey woman with a fat, screaming baby on her hip opened the door. She looked Snape over and her face whitened.

"Vernon!" she called. "One of _those_ people is here. Come quick!"

A fat man with an enormous mustache came into view. "Good gracious. Another one? What do you want with us?" he exclaimed. "We've made it perfectly clear we want no associations with your kind!"

Snape was annoyed. "I'm here to collect Mr. Potter. He's being taken off of your hands for a time."

Petunia looked overjoyed, and then suspicious. "And who are you?"

"Severus Snape, I'm authorized to take him and it will only be temporary," he handed her the letter Dumbledore had written to the Dursley's. "Now if you can get me the boy, I assure you, I'll be on my way."

Vernon walked to the stairs and opened a little cupboard beneath it. Severus was appalled as he saw the man pull out a tiny tiny boy, wearing only an oversized shirt and a diaper.

"Here." Vernon said, handing him off. Snape took little Harry. He had enormous green eyes and an astounding amount of thick black hair. The baby pulled away from Snape, obviously scared of him, but made no sound.

"Does he have any things?" Snape asked.

"I'll go grab his clothes. I think they're on the line." Petunia said. She handed the still screaming baby Dudley to Vernon and went outside, returned with two damp shirts and a slightly dripping pair of pants.

Snape was disgusted. "Is this all?" he asked. Petunia nodded and Snape snatched them up and returned to the car. Much as he hated James Potter he was sickened by the maltreatment he had just witnessed. He buckled Harry into the car seat Dumbledore and provided, fumbling for a few minutes with the straps, and finally guessing at the proper way to handle the contraption and then he sped away, wondering what kind of a night it was going to be.


	2. Chapter 2

Snape arrived at his home on Spinner's End and removed Harry from the car seat. Harry just looked at him, his eyes wild and darting. He breathed in and out in shallow, quick breaths and leaned away slightly from Snape. While Snape didn't necessarily know an uncommon amount of knowledge about babies, he knew this was abnormal. Snape unlocked his front door with a small flick of his wand and entered his front room. He turned the light on and looked around. Dumbledore had provided Snape with a small brown crib for Harry but other than that Snape was on his own. He had no idea where to begin. Probably food? What did he have that a malnourished little boy would want to eat? With Harry still on hip, Snape walked into his kitchen. Harry seemed fascinated by the lights and stared at them, pointing up at them. His mouth opened and shut but he didn't make any sound.

"Yes Potter. Those are lights," Snape said flatly. He went through his well-organized cupboards but wasn't sure what the small boy would want to eat. "Why did I agree to this?" Snape muttered to himself. With no other idea of what to feed him, Snape grabbed a piece of bread.

"Will this do, Potter?" Snape asked trying to hand Harry the piece of bread. Harry's eyes grew even wider and he turned his head away, as if afraid of being struck.

"I'm not going to hit you," Snape said dryly. With bread in hand he returned to his living room. Experimentally he sat Harry down on the floor. Snape wondered if the frail little boy would be able to sit up on his own, but Harry did so. He burrowed the fingers of his right hand into the thick, dark green carpet and sucked on his lower lip. Snape ripped a little piece of bread off and offered it to Harry. Harry just squeezed his eyes shut.

"You can eat can't you?" Snape muttered. He picked Harry up and after some hesitation set him on his knee. Using one finger Snape pulled Harry's lip down. He saw four little teeth emerging from the baby's gums. "Here." Snape poked the piece of bread into Harry's mouth. After a little time Harry began to eat the little piece and after swallowing continued to sit quietly. Snape fed Harry another little piece. The baby's mouth was warm and wet, and Severus felt his fingers getting all slimy. This was not something he was accustomed to. After five minutes of slow bites, Harry began to take the pieces from Severus' fingers, and was doing his best to feed himself, ending up with some partially chomped on bread dribbling down his chin and shirt.

"Charming," Snape said. He set Harry back down on the floor with a few more ripped up pieces of bread and went to the kitchen to get a cloth to wipe his face. When Snape returned Harry had his hand inside his shirt, by his tummy. As Snape took the boy's wrist and removed it from his shirt he saw Harry's hand was clenched into a fist.

"What do you have?" Snape asked, worried about what Harry might have grabbed. He pried Harry's fingers open and saw it was only bread, which Harry had been trying to hide. When Snape took the bread out of his hand, Harry's eyes filled with tears which spilled quietly down his face. He hiccuped softly, but did not cry loudly. Severus was surprised when he felt a touch of sadness inside him.

"You don't need to hide your food, Potter. I'm going to feed you," he said. Then he returned Harry to his lap and wiped the tears and slobber from his face.

* * *

It was nighttime and Harry was in his crib which Snape had set up in the small guest bedroom right next to his room. Snape could not relax. He kept waiting for a sound from the room next door. Weren't babies supposed to cry? Didn't they wake up and need changing? Snape could not help but feeling uneasy and stressed. At one am he gave up trying to sleep. He went into the next room and checked on his young charge. Harry had his hand around one of the bars of the crib and was sitting up, wide awake. When he saw Snape enter he hurriedly laid down, squeezing his eyes closed. Snape sighed and went back to his room. By two, still sleepless, Snape was up again and checking on Harry. Snape rationalized with himself that he wasn't acting soft, he was just following Dumbledore's instructions and making sure Harry was alright. When Snape looked in again Harry was sitting up again and was looking out the window. He laid down again once he noticed Snape's presence in the room. Snape gave a resigned sigh and went to the kitchen. He carried one of the hard, black chairs in and set it close to Harry's crib. With Snape in the room Harry remained lying down and finally fell asleep, and eventually, Snape did too.

* * *

The next morning Snape woke up as soon as the sun started peering through the window. He could not sleep in lit rooms. As he stood up his back protested angrily.

"Never again," Snape vowed. "Will I sleep in that chair."

He walked to his bedroom and did something he very frequently cared to do- glanced in the mirror. He looked even paler and more exhausted than usual. "And this after only one night. Albus had better be grateful," Snape muttered. Then he drew the dark curtains firmly over his window and fell onto his bed, sleeping immediately.

Snape woke up again almost an hour later and heard a soft thumping coming from the next room. Snape looked in on Harry and saw him softly hitting his hand against his crib.

"Morning, Potter," Snape said, and lifted Harry from the crib. Harry again looked uncertain and frightened, and Snape set him down in the living room, bringing him more bread to munch on. Harry only ate a couple small pieces and finally Severus took the rest of the bread and set it on the counter. He changed Harry into one of the shirts and the pair of pants, which were dry by now, but which did not fit Harry at all.

"You require a lot of equipment," Snape told Harry seriously. "Which I do not have."

Snape wasn't excited but he knew what he needed to do. If he was going to care for Harry for the next few years he was going to need to go shopping.


	3. Chapter 3

Shopping had never been a particular favorite of Severus's but this really just took the cake. First of all he felt completely humiliated, pushing the cart around with Harry in the little seat facing him. Harry sucked on his fist contentedly and looked around the store curiously. Snape decided to get food first, then clothes. Then he would talk to Albus who would hopefully help him the furniture department. One thing Snape knew with a positive certainty, he was NOT purchasing a rocking chair. Or a changing table. Those things were going to need to come from somewhere else. He walked slowly down the food isle, feeling rediculous and especially self conscious as the cart he was pushing had one wheel that squeaked obnoxiously. Harry was slowly starting to relax a little bit. He tipped his head back and forth in response to the music playing in the supermarket.

"Good Potter. You can take up ballet when you're bigger. I'm sure that would make your father proud," Snape remarked, as he wondered if he had enough dignity to purchase baby food? When did babies stop eating baby food. Snape spent another few seconds looking at the jars of mushy, colored junk and shook his head.

"You have teeth. I'm not buying that."

"Do you need help, sir?"

Snape turned and saw a middle-aged woman wearing a name tag reading "Sara Lee" and a store apron approaching him. Oh no. Assistance. This was something Snape dreaded. He turned and ignored the woman.

"Sir? Sir? Do you need any help, sir?" she asked, following Snape down the isle. She was probably three inches taller than Snape, and about three times his weight. She had dyed red hair, which had ended coming out more of a pinkish color and had extremely long nails, painted with blood red nail polish.

"No, I don't need any help," Snape said, not making eye contact with the woman.

"Oh, but you look confused," she said cheerfully. "What are you lookin' for?"

"Food," Snape stated. "Which is fascinating, seeing as I'm standing here in the food isle,"

The woman laughed. It sounded like a donkey getting stung by a hive full of bees. Harry stopped bobbing to the music and squeezed his eyes shut, scared again.

"You are so _funny_!" Sara Lee snorted. "You're standing by the baby food. Do you have another one at home? Cause this one," she indicated Harry. "Can probably move on to solids by now," she lowered her eyelids and peered at Snape through her lashes. "I could help you find some solids if you like."

Snape was horrified. He was quite sure that in all his experiences, including those with the Death Eaters, he had only had a couple experiences which could even compare to this one in terms of his horror.

"Well that will be something I will not be needing help with," Snape adamantly said, and he turned and began walking away, briskly.

"If you're sure, sir," she said, baring her teeth at him in a smile. Her front teeth had lipstick on them.

"Positive."

"If you need me, come and look for me. My name is Sara Lee, I'd be glad to help you anytime you like, okay?"

Snape didn't bother answering.

* * *

After the encounter with Sara Lee the rest of the food shopping had gone alright. Snape had grabbed cheerios and fruit snacks and little cracker thingummies among a wide assortment of things he hoped Harry would eat. Then Snape swallowed and braced himself, and headed to the back of the store where he could find clothes for Harry. He was the only man in that area of the store. There were five women clustered around the baby shoes, and a very pregnant woman piling her cart full of baby toys and teething rings. Snape looked at the clothes which were labeled to fit a one year old first, but they looked much too big for Harry.

"I think your son would fit a 6-8 months better," a voice behind him said.

Snape started, then breathed a sigh of relief. It was just the toy lady. So long as it wasn't Sara Lee, he didn't care.

He nodded to acknowledge her and then went to look at those clothes. They did seem to be more Harry's size.

"I refuse to dress you in anything with a smiling bumblebee on it," Snape said to Harry. "It just won't be happening."

As he looked through the options he had he felt worried. "Is there no baby clothing without something embarrassing upon it?" Snape muttered. He went past smiling animals of just about every kind, smiling choo choo trains, onesies with the words "Daddy's Big Boy" and "Heartbreaker" stitched on them.

"This is appalling." Snape said, looking at the clothing in front of him. Finally he found some more basic items. Just about all the shirts he placed in the cart for Harry were green. He also picked out two blue shirts, and three white ones.

Suddenly Harry made an impatient mmm-ing sound. He pointed his finger at a white shirt with black sleeves and a big smiling panda on the front, eating a stick of bamboo.

"Well isn't that just the most precious thing," Snape stated. "No Potter. I have my reservations about smiling animals."

Snape got some pants, and two pairs of pajamas and added them to the cart, then began to walk away.

Harry dropped his head down and Snape could just see his bottom lip protruding and trembling slightly.

Snape pretended not to notice and grabbed some bibs for Harry, because he wanted to spend as little time as possible washing Harry's clothes.

* * *

The shopping experience was almost complete. Snape walked towards the front of the store and saw baby shampoo in little canisters. Harry did have a lot of hair. It would probably need to be washed sometime.

"It's a good thing you're quiet Potter," Snape remarked. "Because you are expensive." he grabbed some shampoo for Harry and then, after looking around quickly to make sure no one was looking, grabbed a bottle of Pantene Nature Fusion Shampoo. He was almost out and this would help him avoid another trip to the store. He shoved the Pantene to the bottom of the cart, under the baby clothes and the little shoes.

* * *

Snape was in line waiting to purchase the various items and afraid to see how much they'd cost. He was almost to the front of the line when he noticed Harry was still looking down and his chin was wet from tears rolling sown his cheeks. Snape maneuvered the cart out of line and went to get one last thing.

* * *

When they got back to Spinner's End, Snape had to take two trips to haul everything inside. He set Harry down on the floor, then began putting the new clothes into the dresser which stood against the wall opposite the crib. The last thing he put in, in the third drawer down was a little white outfit with a smiling panda on it.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed shopping with Snape. :) It sort of made my day.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry was sleeping in his crib, sucking on his fist, and Severus was reading a book in the living room when Albus showed up. He was wearing periwinkle blue robes, and when he noticed the relief on Snape's face at his arrival his old eyes twinkled merrily as they were so prone to do.

"How are things holding up, Severus? he asked.

"What is he supposed to eat? How often am I supposed to check on him? Oh. And I am not purchasing myself a rocker but there needs to be something in that boy's room that I can sit upon without breaking my back!" Severus said.

"Was it a long night?" Albus asked with a smile.

Snape chose not to dignify the question with an answer.

"I spoke to Molly Weasley," Albus said, seating himself on Snape's black leather couch and placing the green throw pillow on the floor. "She says that if you need anything for Harry then there are some things she may be able to spare. Of course, she has a baby of her own right now, but she said she'd do what she could,"

"I don't want to...inconvenience her," Snape answered, meaning that he didn't really want Molly Weasley's rocking chair or baby clothes which had already been used by five children and most likely had strange images on them.

"I thought you might not," Dumbledore nodded. "That's alright. She didn't know who the things were for, of course. I'm trying to keep Harry's where-abouts very top secret. Only you and I know, plus Minerva."

"Why Minerva?" Snape asked.

"She found out by intercepting me on my way here. She's agreed to keep it totally quiet, and also that it is for the best," Dumbledore said.

Snape wasn't sure if that was good or not, but he decided to drop it for the time being.

"We will find you a chair and also some toys for Harry," Dumbledore continued.

Snape had seen the woman at the store buying toys but he thought those were strictly optional and something he didn't need to indulge in. Dumbledore had a very different opinion on it however. "Not only does Harry need toys, but you need to play with him," he instructed. "It will be crucial to Harry's development."

Snape looked very concerned. Why was such a tiny person so much work?

Dumbledore smiled reassuring at Snape. "Don't worry Severus. I'll find whatever else you need and send it over tomorrow. Probably with Minerva, until then you can manage, right?"

Severus was insulted. Of course he could manage. He was beyond managing. "We'll be fine, headmaster," Snape replied.

"Good," Albus smiled merrily and turned to the door. "Good day, Severus."

* * *

Snape was just giving Harry breakfast when he heard a small knock on his door the following morning. He sincerely hoped it was someone, anyone, bringing him a different chair. He'd ended up on the kitchen chair again, unable to sleep, knowing that if he left the room Harry would just sit up and look around.

He opened the door and the smile that came to his face was the first one Minerva McGonagall had ever seen. Despite the smile however, Minerva was taken aback.

"Why, Severus," she managed. "You look awful."

His hair was a mess, he had not yet changed, and he had circles under his eyes. The smile dropped from his face. "Yes well, I'm sure you might look awful as well if you were trying to look after a one-year old," Snape said snidely.

Minerva sniffed. "Oh I'm sure I'd manage it," she said. "Anyhow, I have brought you some things Albus said you might need." She had with her a chair, a black leather recliner, which made Snape's heart rejoice, as well as a high chair for Harry, and some toys.

Snape accepted them and quickly moved them into his small home. The chair went directly into Harry's room and the high chair went into the kitchen. As Snape set the toys on the living room floor, Minerva saw Harry sitting there, opening and closing his mouth, waiting for Snape to finish feeding him. Snape had given him some cheerios this morning and he enjoyed them very much.

"Why hello there, little Mr. Potter," Minerva said, stooping down to pick Harry up. As soon as her hands touched him though he began to squirm. He shook his head and wiggled his little body.

Snape reached over and took the struggling baby who calmed down.

"Severus," McGonagall smiled. "I never knew you had such a way with children,"

Snape just smiled cooly in reply and bid farewell to his coworker. Before she left, she handed Snape one more thing that he was a bit more reluctant to take. It was a magazine. On parenting.

"What is this for?" Snape asked.

"Albus thought you might need some ideas on what to do with Harry. Plus it will tell you the kind of things that are important for you to do with Harry. Otherwise you could really mess him up," Minerva accused.

Snape rolled his eyes and took the magazine. He would only read it for the wizarding world's sake. Plus it might be a serious crime to screw up the Boy-Who-Lived. He opened the door as a sign to McGonagall and she gave him a curt nod and walked out. Once she was gone Severus set Harry down in the high chair and poured some cheerios onto the tray. He wouldn't admit it, but he was glad Harry was happier to be held by him than by McGonagall.

* * *

Harry was excited to see something he could play with. Snape had set him in the living room where all sorts of fun new things awaited. He grabbed a ball and tried to put it in his mouth though it was much to big.

"It's not going to fit in there," Snape said. He took the ball away from Harry, and at first the little boy looked shocked and began to stick his lip out but then Severus rolled the ball over to Harry then he knelt down just a few feet away.

"Roll it back, Potter," Snape said and he patted the ground in front of him. Harry tilted his head to the side like a puppy and, after concentrating for a moment, pushed the ball back to Snape. When Snape passed it back to Harry, his face broke out into a grin. His four little teeth were visible and his big green eyes closed in delight.

"Good boy," Snape reassured. "Pass it back."

Harry pushed the ball again. And Snape only barely bit back a smile when he passed the ball back to Harry.

* * *

Harry was asleep in his crib taking a nap and Snape was getting more and more worried. He was skimming through the magazine he had been brought. Some of these things were ridiculous. According to one article music was important for a baby's development. So was clapping. And reading. And singing. And talking. _Powerful Parenting_ said Snape was supposed to talk a lot to Harry so that he could learn to talk too.

"I'm not a nurturer," Snape moaned putting his head in his hands. "I agreed to this as a Protector, not a parent."

But as Snape lifted his head, he looked from his new chair across the room to the crib against the wall. Harry rolled over and made a sighing sound and Snape stood, setting the magazine down on the chair. He went to the living room and found a small stuffed owl Harry had been playing with earlier and placed it in the crib with him, then he quietly went out, shutting the door behind him.

**A/N: SO! There it is. :) Sorry it's taking awhile for this story to really take off. I promise I have plans for bigger things to happen later, but I am enjoying developing the characters and just having fun with this phase. Any suggestions? REVIEW! :) Thank you for all the reviews so far! And I might need to bring back Sara Lee at some point. Thoughts?**


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Snape woke up in a very good mood. Harry had fallen asleep within minutes after being placed in his crib the previous night and Severus had been able to finish his newspaper and then fall asleep in his own bed. His back was practically singing songs of praise, it felt so good. Snape got up and dressed, and walked past the door to Harry's room. Already that's what it was. It was no longer the guestroom, or the spare room, or anything else. Of course, in Snape's mind it was "Potter's Room" not "Harry's". He gently pushed the door open and saw Harry sitting up, trying to fit the stuffed owl's face into his mouth. When he saw Snape he put the owl down, a long line of drool dangling from his chin, and held his arms up expectantly.

"That's right, Potter. Your mode of transportation has arrived," Snape said, bending over the crib and lifting Harry from it.

Snape carried Harry to the new high chair and placed him inside it. He put some food on the tray and began eating his own breakfast. Harry ate his cheerios and little pieces of banana cheerfully. Then he smiled mischievously. It was the first time Snape saw that look on Harry's face but from the moment he saw it he feared it would be a look he would see many, many times in the future.

"What are you up to?" Snape asked.

Harry took the last piece of banana in his fist and then smashed it into his thick, black hair. He rubbed it around and smiled with delight.

"That's a new hair treatment, Potter," Snape said. "Now I need to wash your hair. In fact, I believe a bath is in order."

Snape lifted Harry from the high chair and took him to the sink. Harry's face turned red and he began to squirm. Snape rolled up his sleeves and braced himself for what would surely be a tremendous battle.

* * *

Who knew babies could put up such a fight? Snape was weary after struggling with Harry to get him cleaned up, but at last he had done it. Harry was dressed in a green shirt and blue pants and was sitting on the floor. Snape sat on the couch and watched him. The little boy was looking around at the toys Snape had left on the floor for him. Slowly he began to crawl towards some blocks. He looked over his shoulder to see if Snape was going to play too.

"Go ahead, Potter," Snape said. "Play."

Harry waited another moment, and then continued crawling. He crawled cautiously, like he thought someone was going to stop him, but no one did. He reached the blocks and began to put one on top of another. After making a smile pile he smiled and pointed to his creation.

"Good," Snape said. "Looks like Hogwarts." then he clapped his hands, feeling foolish, but remembering that he was supposed to praise Harry when he made small achievements. Something about positive reinforcement.

Harry nodded emphatically and clapped too. Then he knocked the tower over and started building again. After making a small pile he pointed at it and clapped.

"Yes, good job," Snape said and he clapped for a moment too. Harry continued that way for several minutes. Then he had a new idea for a fun game. He picked up a block and threw it. He started to clap but Snape shook his head.

"No. We don't throw, Potter."

"No." Harry repeated. It was his first word. Snape stood up excitedly then sat back down, shaking his head at himself. He had been about to go and write it down. What was happening to him?

Harry didn't throw another block, but he seemed bored with his old game. He picked up a little toy car. It was bright orange and had a big happy face on the front of it. Snape was rather unsure why everything related to babies needed to have a big grin on it but he had accepted the toy from Minerva nonetheless. The car had big blue wheels and after Harry spun them from awhile he returned the car to the ground and pushed it toward Snape.

Snape sighed and got off the couch, coming to kneel on the floor with Harry.

"Vroom." he said flatly as he pushed the car back.

Harry sucked in his cheeks and looked surprised. Then he pushed the car back to Snape. When Snape passed the car back without making a sound Harry shook his head hard, and pointed at the car.

"Did you want me to vroom, Potter?" Snape asked.

Harry smiled.

"Vroom?" Snape said, unsure why this word made Harry so happy. Harry clapped and nodded his head.

And so Snape vroomed. Each time he passed the car, he made the little vroom sound, it was monotone of course, but it was still a vroom.

* * *

Snape was cleaning up the toys on the floor, putting them away in a big black chest he used to keep old schoolbooks in but was now going to be a toy box. Harry was napping, lying on the floor with his fist in his mouth. Snape picked him up and carried him to his room. He was about to lay the baby in the crib when Harry sighed in his sleep and snuggled his head against Snape's shoulder.

_If I try to set him down now,_ Snape reasoned, _he'll just wake up. I'll hold him for a bit._ He sat down in his chair and slowly rocked back and forth. He would never admit it, or even think the word, but he was cozy. Tired from a long afternoon, Snape too fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N: This one is a tiny bit shorter but I'm going to update soon. :) Thanks for all the reviews, hope you're enjoying it!**


	6. Chapter 6

Waking up by being patted in the face was a new experience for Severus.

"That's enough of that," Snape said, catching Harry's hand before it could push his cheek again.

Harry pointed to the window, it was a pretty, fall day.

"Do you want to go out?" Snape asked. He found a green and gray sweater and pulled it over Harry's head, then making sure he had a change of diaper, bottle, and even the stuffed owl in tow, not to mention a small container of cheerios and two packs of fruit snacks, Snape left the house. Oh how prepared and on top of things he felt. _Take that Minerva_, he thought._ I can parent. _This was an achievement he had never desired before, but he actually felt quite proud of himself for remembering everything. He even had a black bag to everything in. And it _wasn't_ a diaper bag, no matter what anyone said. It was in fact, an essentials kit and Snape would never let anyone tell him otherwise.

There was a park not far away from Snape's home on Spinner's End and that's where they were headed. When they arrived there were several other children playing there and Harry seemed excited to see other little boys and girls.

"Oo! oo!" he cried, making a face which looked a little bit like a monkey, and pointing at the swings.

Snape nodded and carried Harry over to the swing set. He set Harry into one of the baby swings and began to push him.

Harry was fearless. He didn't squeal or fuss as Snape pushed him higher, but instead with each push his smile got bigger.

"Mister?" a little voice from the next swing over said. "Mister?"

Snape turned to look at a little girl with enormous amounts of curly blonde hair and raised one eyebrow.

"Mister, you're supposed to say 'whee'." she instructed.

"Is that so?" Snape asked, but he did not say 'whee'. He was tired of receiving instruction on how to parent from everyone he came in contact with. He was doing a splendid job of it on his own, thank you very much. Plus, he'd already vroomed that day and he thought that would be quite sufficient in the making sounds department.

"Mister. Sir. Sir. I'm serious," the little girl said.

"Wonderful," Snape replied, not looking at her. Harry, he vowed, would never pester strangers at the park. He would be much more polite. This thought caused him to smirk a little, oh what a good parent he was turning into, and in such little time.

"Sir! If you don't whee he will get confused!"

"Dirna!" a woman, sitting on a bench nearby called. "Are you bugging that man?"

"No!" the little girl called back.

"Yes." Snape said under his breath.

He continued to push Harry in the swing. Every now and then Harry would "Oo!" excitedly.

"Mister," the little girl whispered. "Please say wheeeeeeee. Please say it."

Snape had to count to seven to control his temper. He wanted to tell this girl something and "whee" wasn't it.

"Dirna!" the woman shouted. "Leave that man alone."

"I'm not bugging him mom!"

"Whee." Snape said.

The little girl clapped and ran away to go on the slide.

Harry giggled tremendously and clapped his hands too.

"Whee." Snape said again, experimentally.

"EE!" Harry giggled as Snape pushed him again.

Snape smiled wryly, he thought it was funny, the way Harry reacted to the sounds he made. He was going to save "quack" for a time Harry was grumpy in the tub and see what his reaction he was. It scared Snape a little that he was excited for that, but he was excited anyway. Of course, if asked, he would never admit to saying quack at all, premeditated or not.

After a little white Harry seemed tired of the swing. Snape took him out and asked, "Where next, Potter?"

Harry pointed at the sandbox. Snape had to debate whether he wanted to put Harry in the sandbox or not. He had already cleaned him up after all. _Well,_ Snape thought. _When we get home I can just change him into his pajamas after dinner and it won't be a problem. _So Snape set Harry in the sandbox, and took a seat on the bench, watching him.

Harry grabbed fistfulls of sand and laughed as the sand fell through his fingers, back into the box. Then the mischievous smile returned. Harry threw a handful of sand and then looked at Snape, expecting praise. Snape shook his head no, and Harry stuck his lip out but returned to his play. Two more little boys, both older than Harry, came to play in the sandbox. Snape guessed they were about three or four years old.

"My name is Jerry," one little boy with red hair said, tapping Harry. "What's your name baby?" He pronounced all of his 'r's like 'w's.

Harry just looked confused.

"Who are you?" asked the other little boy.

"Pa." Harry said.

Snape was about to tell Harry not to talk to strangers but he figured the little boys weren't going to do anything to Harry and he stopped himself at the last second.

The little boys sat down and began to build a sandcastle.

"Oo," Harry said, crawling towards it.

"No! You're too small to play!" said one of the boys.

"No!" Harry repeated, but he still wanted to join in. He slapped his hand down on the sandcastle, ruining it.

"Bad!" cried the red haired little boy, and he hit Harry on the head. Harry fell and his face got covered in sand. Snape rushed forward and collected Harry in his arms. Harry was rubbing at his eyes and he was crying. His nose was running and sand was sticking to his entire face, matted on his tongue. Harry took a deep gulping breath and he let them all have it. He was crying the way normal babies did. Snape wiped sand from his face as best as he could. Then he turned to the little boys in the sandbox. Words could not express Snape's feeling. He simply fixed them with a glare and then turned and swept away.

"Don't worry, Potter, we're going to get all of that sand off you and then we're going to eat dinner and play without mean, little boys."

Harry kept crying but he buried his face in Snape's shoulder and began rubbing his head back and forth on it, trying to rid his eyes of the sand.

* * *

That night, after cleaning up and feeding Harry, Snape thought it would be good to look at picture books. He was all over what was good for a child's development. He sat down on the couch with Harry on his lap and read him several stories. He stopped on each page and pointed at the pictures, telling Harry what each thing was. Unfortunately, Snape didn't really have many books for children. So after reading "Goodnight, Moon" and "The Wee Little Mouse who was Afraid of the Dark" (which had in fact been Snape's favorite story as a child) Snape was forced to resign to the books he already owned. And so he and Harry spent almost half an over perusing Snape's "Index of Potions Ingredients: Volume I".

"Cow tongue," Snape said, pointing to the illustration. "And this is a whole newt,"

"Oo!" Harry responded pointing. "Oo" seemed to be the sound with which Harry chose to communicate the bulk of his thoughts at this point, but at least it was sound.

"You're a very smart little boy...Potter," Snape said. He had almost called him Harry.

**A/N: Poor Snapey can't handle mean boys at the sandbox. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! sooo do it again. Push that little button. Do it! :) YAYYYY**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry for the minor delay, I've been ill. Here we go again. :)  
**

The next morning Harry wasn't feeling well. When Snape entered his bedroom and bent down to remove him from the crib he noticed that Harry's nose seemed red and was runny. Harry buried his face in Snape's shoulder and sneezed.

"Are you ill?" Snape asked. He didn't want Harry to be sick. "If you're sick, you are going to be irritable. And I really do not have the patience to deal with irritable children," Snape told Harry sternly. The truth was that Snape knew Harry wasn't going to want to play with the "vroom" car if he was sick.

Snape put Harry in the high chair and got him breakfast and then began looking at a potions book. He knew of several brews which remedied most minor ailments and colds, but he didn't know if it would be safe to use them on a baby. He could only imagine the trouble he would be in if he accidentally overdosed Harry Potter. Dumbledore would not be happy and then McGonagall would act all snooty, all high and mighty, the way she always did. He could just imagine her looking at him imperiously over her little glasses and saying with an air of superiority that he "clearly could not handle the management of a small child". And that simply wouldn't do. Sadly, Severus could not find any guidelines about age requirements and this bothered him greatly.

"Stupid potions book," he muttered, which was something he had never before said. He looked over and noticed that Harry wasn't eating. In fact he was fast asleep, his head resting on his folded arms on the tray of the high chair. Snape's first impulse was to grab a camera, but he squashed that down.

"What would I do with a picture of Potter sleeping in his high chair?" he said to himself. Shaking his head, he began to clean up the tray, but as he looked down on Harry he really wanted to take a picture. Snape sat down at the table and began to think. What was a logical, sound reason to take a picture? Ah! To convince others of his good parenting skills. Real parents liked taking pictures and if he didn't take pictures then people would be suspicious. Severus nodded to himself. He had always known he was clever, but this just reaffirmed it. He went to his living room and removed a camera from a drawer in the desk. He rarely used cameras, there weren't many things he wanted to take pictures of. He snapped a photo and then placed the camera down.

"There. Now I will be a convincing parental figure and don't need to be bothered with that anymore," Snape said, finishing cleaning up and then picking up Harry. Snape put Harry back into his crib and shut the door, hoping that if he got more sleep he would be in a better mood later. In the meantime, he had work to do. Lesson plans needed to be made, potions needed to be brewed. Snape was beginning to feel nervous about the approaching beginning of the school year. How was he supposed to teach and parent at the same time? He cleared the thought from his mind. He had plenty of time to sort that out later. Harry wouldn't be too much trouble. Snape just worried that if Potter made him go all soft he would loose his reputation as hardest teacher in the school, or at least grumpiest.

* * *

Snape quit his work and went to check on Harry when he heard sniffling sounds coming from the boy's room.

"Are you still being sick?" Snape asked from the doorway. Harry looked up at Snape with big eyes and held his arms up pitifully. Snape picked him up and adjusted the sleeves on Harry pajamas. The green, fleecy material was stuck up by his elbow, and Snape pulled it back down around his wrists. He carried Harry into the living room and sat down with him on the couch.

"I think quiet activities would be the best course of action today, Potter. Do you agree?" he picked up the potions book again and began showing Harry more pictures. Harry didn't like this activity as much as he had the previous day however. He scowled and pushed the book away.

"Potter." Snape said sternly, catching Harry's wrist in his hand. "We do not push. We most especially do not push potions books? Do you ever see Professor Snape pushing potions books? No. You most certainly do not." He began trying to show him the pictures again but Harry still would not comply. He pushed the book again.

"No." Snape repeated.

"No!" Harry said emphatically, and he nodded.

"If you aren't going to respect the book, Potter, then you are going to loose your privileges. No more potions for you today. Hopefully that will teach you," Snape said, looking at Harry very seriously and placing the book on the dark wood table beside the couch.

Harry sighed and snuggled against Snape and began to suck on his fist.

"So Potter. What do you suggest we do?" Snape asked after a few moments. Harry pointed across the room at the toy box. Snape nodded like this was the best idea of the century.

"Yes, let's play with your toys," he agreed. He went over to the box and got out the little orange car with the big smiling face. "Do you want the car?" he asked. But Harry shook his head. Snape was astounded. He didn't want the car? Who was this child? What had happened to Potter?

"What do you want then?" he asked, feeling put out. Harry pointed into the toy box at a plastic frog. Frogs were good, very suitable ingredients in many potions.

"I approve your choice," Snape told Harry, pulling out the squishy green frog. Harry squeezed it and the frog made a sort of wheezing sound. He squeezed it again and it wheezed again. Well that wasn't suitable? How was that going to teach children?

"Frogs do not wheeze, Potter," Snape said. "They ribbit." He was a bit appalled at the misleading information this frog was giving off. For some reason, Harry's sickness was making Snape irritable too. They played with the wheezing frog (a major disappointment) for a few minutes longer, but if soon lost Harry's attention.

Snape returned Harry to his high chair in the kitchen and made a jelly sandwich for Harry, and a plate of chicken and noodles for himself. He tore the sandwich into little bits and placed the pieces on Harry's high chair tray. Harry normally did a good job of feeding himself when little enough pieces were provided, but Harry didn't touch his food.

"What's wrong?" Snape asked. "Is nothing good enough for you today?" he shook his head. "Maybe you are more like your uppity father than I thought."

He turned away from Harry and began eating, but after a few bites he looked back over at Harry. Harry was looking hopefully at Snape's plate. "Honestly," Snape muttered. "I am only allowing this because you aren't feeling well. You are _not_ going to grow up a spoiled brat."

Snape took Harry from the high chair and placed him on his lap. Then he cut little bites of his own food. He raised the fork to Harry's mouth and Harry opened it eagerly. As soon as he accepted the food though he began to look upset.

"What's wrong now?" Snape said, getting frustrated. Harry had never been this difficult. Harry stuck his tongue out and began to put his fingers on it. "Was it hot?" Snape asked, his tone instantly softening. "Here," Snape put another bite on his fork and blew on it carefully, then gave it to Harry. He was much happier with this bite. He swallowed it and opened his mouth for more. Snape gave him a few more bites, then tried to feed him a piece of the sandwich. Harry ate it but pointed to Snape's plate after swallowing. As it turned out, he ate Severus' whole meal and Snape...well, he hadn't had a sandwich in years and he actually found it more satisfying than he would have thought.


	8. Chapter 8

No sunlight penetrated the room when Snape woke up- of course it wouldn't, he had very heavy drapes- but even without light Snape knew he had overslept. That was unusual for him, so he was instantly irked, and he also wondered what sort of trouble Potter was getting into. He threw his sheets off his legs and went to check on his small charge. In Harry's room there was plenty of light, and Harry was fussing in his crib, trying to pull himself to a standing position.

"We are behind schedule," Snape told Harry, picking him up and carrying him to the kitchen. "And therefor we are not going to waste a lot of time with breakfast. We are both eating cheerios, Potter. Mine will just be more sophisticated than yours."

Harry seemed happy enough with this proposition and he immediately stuck his hand into his bowl of cereal. Snape raised an eyebrow at him. "We use spoons in this household," he told him matter-of-factly. Harry just smiled and picked up a soggy cheerio and stuck it in his mouth. Snape decided that he wasn't going to deal with this situation, and he quickly ate his own breakfast, a multi-grain cereal with only 2 grams of sugar per serving. Snape tried to keep sugar out of his diet on most occasions, though there were certain times which merited a little sweetness. Snape was busy that morning. He needed to finalize lesson plans. He had three more days before he needed to return to Hogwarts and begin teaching the next batch of students, as well as failing as many of the old ones as possible. Harry had been much more of a distraction than he had anticipated.

After breakfast Snape hurriedly dressed Harry, in green pants and a white shirt, and then tried to decide what he could do with him while he worked. He debated just leaving him on the living room floor, they would be in the same room after all, but he was nervous about Harry bumping his head on something or crawling out of the room. Or sticking something in his mouth, or breaking something, or... No. That wouldn't do. Snape sighed and resigned himself that at some point or another he was going to need to buy Harry a playpen, if only to keep him out of trouble.

"You are going to be responsible for my lack of preparedness," Snape told Harry seriously. "And I'm not sure that is acceptable. You are too small to require so much equipment." That said, Snape decided they were just going to need to go to the store again. Before going though Snape decided he was going to make a list of everything he needed. He was not going to make this frequent trip to the store business routine. He returned Harry to the high chair and sat at the kitchen table and began to make a list.

_Needed Equipment_ was the title of the page. Snape thought for a few moments, going through all the possible situations in his head and finally came up with this list.

_1 playpen- to keep Potter out of trouble and my hair_

_1 small walker- to keep Potter occupied and to prevent him from falling over, accidents etc. _

_1 diaper pail - because Potter's napkins are NOT going in the kitchen rubbish bin any longer. _

_All ingredients needed for a smell proofing potion for said diaper pail_

_booster seat for table - because Potter insists on eating my meals and he does not need to sit on my lap at every meal. _

_Stroller- so Potter doesn't always get carried- parenting magazine said that is not wise. Find dignified stroller?_

_Different shoes- so Potter can learn to walk  
_

_Books- because Potter doesn't respect the Potions book at all times and we need quiet activities_

_Photo album for pictures- to avoid suspicious people. Already worked this out. _

_Aspirin- to soothe my head as school is starting frighteningly soon...  
_

Severus knew that if he did not include his reasons for the items he wouldn't buy them. It wasn't that he was cheap. He was simply frugal. He did have to live on a teacher's salary after all. Snape looked over the list a couple more times and then nodded. Something was striking him odd though. Potter was mentioned seven times on that list. So much focus on this little boy who Severus had assumed he was going to despise. Snape shook his head from preventing too many gooey thoughts. In a way, he figured, it would be good to get back to school. So much time just spent at home with a little one was affecting his thought patterns and that couldn't be good for anyone. _

* * *

_They were back at the store, and Harry was fussing in the seat of the cart. He still wasn't feeling great, and he didn't want to be ignored. He whimpered softly and put his hand out, reaching for Snape.

"Be patient, Potter. We're going to make this as quick and painless as possible and then I'm going to pay a quick visit to Madame Pomfrey. Your sickness and my- Professor Snape's- starting school in a few days are not going to be a good combination." Snape was having a hard time saying his name instead of "I" or "my" etc. The parenting magazine had told him it was important to speak of himself in the third person so that the baby would know what to call him. It was just that he felt awkward addressing himself as Professor Snape, and he really doubted that Harry was going to go straight from saying "oo" to "professor Snape" but he was not going to teach Harry to call him "Daddy". It just wasn't going to happen. Severus found everything he needed fairly quickly. The only problem was that pesky woman. Sara Lee was there again and Snape knew that if she spotted him, he was in for it. At one point he half-ran down the vacuum isle to avoid being seen. Another worker gave him a strange look as he did this, but Snape fixed them with a glare and they immediately turned back to restocking shelves.

"You see Potter," Snape instructed as he walked to the check out. "Sometimes people do things for very applicable and valid reasons, but they don't necessarily need to explain those reasons to others. That is why we do not stare at people rudely when they run down vacuum isles."

The woman in front of Snape in line seemed intrigued by this piece of information. "You talk to your little one with words like that?" she asked, seeming curious. "When I was raising my kids I always tried to use smaller words so they could catch on faster."

"Well that's fascinating," Snape said curtly. "But I happen to be amazing at this parenting ordeal. More so than most people would believe, and so I shall continue to speak to Potter in whatever way I think will instruct him best." With that Snape reshouldered his "Essentials Kit" firmly. Normally he would not have gone on that way, but being stressed tended to make him defensive.

The woman murmured an apology and left Snape alone, becoming very interested in a package of chewing gum.

* * *

They returned home to drop off the new equipment. Severus groaned as he realized he was going to need to take everything for Harry to his quarters in Hogwarts in just a few days and he was not looking forward to lugging everything over.

"Know what we are going to do?" Snape told Harry, as he finished setting up the play pen. "We are going to make Dumbledore take care of it. Which probably means Hagrid will manage it. But I'm not going to be responsible for it. Nope. Professor Snape is going to be responsible for himself and for you. That's about all he can handle right now."

He put Harry down in the playpen and took an aspirin, then he sat down on the couch and tipped his head back, shutting his eyes. A sharp sneeze from Harry reminded Snape of the errand he needed to run to see Madam Pomfrey. The only problem? Dumbledore had not been clear on how open Snape was supposed to be with the fact that he was caring for Harry. He figured everyone on the staff was going to know eventually however. Snape couldn't very well hide Harry in his rooms all the time. No, Snape was just going to take Harry with him to see the nurse and if Dumbledore didn't like it, too bad. He would have to fix that and be more clear in the future. Snape smiled to himself. _No fear Severus,_ he thought_. Potter hasn't made you soft. You're as snarky as ever. _

Then, picking Harry up, he closed his eyes and apparated.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I will not be able to update for like a week, but you can survive that long, right? Of course, the more reviews I receive may just inspire me to put in one more chapter before I have to leave. ;) Thanks for all the reviews so far! You all deserve cookies or Snape buttons or something. I'll work on that. ;)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: So I really shouldn't be writing this because I have way too much to do before my trip BUT you all are such dear people that I decided to give you a chapter anyway. :) It's shorter than they normally are, but at least it's something and it had some fun moments.  
**

"Severus? Oh my...erm...what are you doing here?" Madam Pomfrey asked, hiding behind the door to her home.

"I need a bit of...medical assistance Poppy." Snape was just about as uncomfortable as she was, but for a different reason. She was uncomfortable because she'd just gotten out of bed and was still in her night gown, which happened to be pink and lacy and altogether something that most people would not imagine being in her wardrobe. Snape was just uncomfortable because he didn't like asking for help.

"Well, is it urgent? Or can I change first," she asked.

"By all means." Snape had absolutely no desire to look at her in that pink monstrosity. He stood on the doorstep while Madam Pomfrey ran up stairs to find something a bit more suitable for this altogether unexpected company. Snape thought her manners left something to be desired, and he tapped his foot impatiently.

"Do not follow this example, Potter," Snape instructed. "Slamming doors in people's faces, whether you are dressed appropriately or not, is not a good thing to do. It makes Professor Snape annoyed."

Harry responded to this bit of wisdom by grabbing Snape's hair and tugging it.

"We aren't playing that game, I promise," Snape said sternly, freeing his black locks from the boy's grasp and looking the hairs over to make sure they hadn't been hurt. Much to his relief they were fine, and Snape once again was grateful for the strengthening agents in his Pantene shampoo.

"No?" Harry asked, looking sad.

"That's right Potter. No pulling hair, especially Professor Snape's."

Harry nodded. "No. No, Pot."

Madam Pomfrey reappeared at the door just then and when she saw Harry in Severus' arms her eyes grew wide. "Why Severus!" she said, shocked. "Is there something you need to tell me?"

Snape rolled his eyes. "He isn't mine. I'm simply tending him for the time-being. He has a cold though, what should be done for that?"

"If you're only tending him, why are you worrying about his cold?" Madam Pomfrey asked with suspicion edging her voice.

"Because I will be looking after him for awhile, Poppy, and I would rather watch a healthy child than an ill one."

"Alright, well come on in and I'll take a look at him."

Snape stepped over the threshold and tried to avoid wrinkling his nose at the peculiar odor which permeated the air. It smelled very strongly of cleaner and floor wax and tomato sauce, which was a strange combination. Harry sneezed.

"Well, let's take a look shall we?" she asked, holding her arms out to take Harry.

Snape reluctantly gave him over. Harry leaned away from Madam Pomfrey and pushed his hand against her shoulder and made a whining "mmm" sound.

"Calm down," she said, surprised at his apparent distaste for her.

"'Nape!" Harry cried, starting to thash the way babies do when they don't want to be held.

"Shhhh,"Madam Pomfrey soothed. Then turning to Severus she said, "My my, he certainly has a strong attachment to you."

Snape tried not to look too pleased.

"'Nape..." Harry whimpered.

Madam Pomfrey sat Harry down on a small examining table and he calmed down a bit.

Madam Pomfrey looked him over and said, "Yes, it's just a small cold. I would think you would know how to cure a cold Severus? Aren't you supposed to be good at brewing potions?" she asked with a quirk in her eyebrow.

"I didn't want to give him too much," Snape said in his defense.

"Well a normal potion for a mild cold will do, just give him a smaller dose. Probably about a third of what you'd give someone older," she instructed.

"Fine. Thank you," Snape said, and he lifted Harry from the small table. Harry smiled and rested his head against Snape's shoulder.

Madam Pomfrey smiled. "He is darling, Severus, though he doesn't look a thing like you,"

"That would make perfect sense, Poppy. He isn't my child."

"Oh? Then who are you, baby?" Madam Pomfrey cooed at Harry. "Tell Aunt Poppy you're name."

"Pot!" Harry answered fervently.

"Pot? That's an odd name..." Madam Pomfrey remarked.

Snape looked slightly embarrassed. "His name is Harry," he said. Then with a nod to the nurse he left.

* * *

While Snape worked over one of his many cauldrons in his office, Harry took a nap. Snape's mind was busy as he idly chopped the mint leaves into small, even pieces. Harry thought of himself as Potter, and Snape wondered if he ought to begin calling him Harry. It wouldn't be any good for the child to not even know his own name. Snape sighed. Then Harry it would be. He tipped the mint into the rest of the mixture which was bubbling cheerfully and as he did so he reversed the direction he was stirring. Once small purple curls of steam began to rise from the cauldron, Snape knew the potion was ready. He bottled it up and then poured a small amount onto a spoon, which he took to Harry's room, being careful not to spill. Harry wasn't sleeping. As soon as he heard Snape enter he sat right up and smiled.

"I'm only here to give you medicine, Potter," Snape said, forgetting that he wasn't supposed to call him that anymore. "You still need to sleep. I have work to do."

Harry looked confused and tilted his head to one side.

"You look like a dog. Now open your mouth," Snape instructed. He brought the spoon towards Harry's lips and Harry opened obediently.

"Yum." Snape said flatly, pouring the medicine into Harry's mouth. Harry pulled a face and pushed the spoon away.

"That's all there is Pot-Harry. Now take your nap."

Snape quickly left the room, feeling confused. Why did calling him Harry feel so different? He shook his head and returned to his office, shutting the door firmly and tried to concentrate on his work.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I'm hoooooome! Thanks for all the reviews while I was away! And now back to my favorite little pair. :)**

Snape had been dreading this, and fretting about it, and worrying. He was, in fact, acting rather undignified about the whole situation. He was the teacher. He wasn't supposed to feel jittery about going back to school. That was just silly, and he knew it. Moving had been less of a pain than he had anticipated. He had simply shrunken down all of Harry's furniture, using a shrinking potion which was quite simple to make, provided you were a potions master. Snape had shrunk the dresser with the clothes still in it, and the toybox with the toys still inside as well. They had all just shrunken along with the furniture and would be easy to restore once the potion wore off, which would be sometime late that evening. He would have the antidote on hand just in case, should he need to restore the objects before the potion wore off. Harry had been fascinated with the tiny furniture, he thought they were toys and tried to put them in his mouth.

"No, don't eat those," Snape instructed, saving Harry's crib and scooping up the rest of the furniture, placing them all in a small box. "When you eat your crib it makes Professor Snape very irate."

"No, Pot!" Harry agreed.

"Harry. Your name is Harry." Snape said, matter-of-factly. Then he put the box with Harry's things in it into his Essentials Kit, which he slung over his shoulder, and hoisted Harry onto his hip. He apparated to the King's Cross Station and took a deep breath. He was really not looking forward to this. He couldn't apparate to the grounds of Hogwarts and because he had another person with him he couldn't even apparate close. No, he was going to have to take the train, just as the students would be doing the next day. As he walked into the station he felt positively hypocritical. Snape had never liked trains to begin with, and he always had very short patience with babies or little ones on trains. And now, here he was. Taking the train with a one year old in tow. He feared it was going to be a long ride.

Snape walked through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 and sighed again. His usual strategy for trains was to take a sleeping draught and sleep the whole way. He knew that he couldn't be asleep with Harry though, Harry would crawl away or fall off the seat or some such ridiculous thing. Oh the ways babies could get into trouble. Severus had considered giving Harry some sleeping potion as well but he felt very uncomfortable about drugging such a little boy. Snape scowled. Who would have guessed that caring for Harry would have reawakened his moral conscious? To be truthful, Snape hadn't even missed it in the first place. The station master recognized Snape immediately and nodded to him.

"It's been quite some time, Severus, since I've seen you,"

"Quite," Snape agreed, without even a hint of remorse in his voice for that fact.

"Well, enjoy your trip." he said, giving the potions master a nod.

Snape nodded back and boarded the Hogwarts Express. Harry was oohing and pointing to different things, reveling in the different sights and the sounds he was hearing.

"Do you know what we are on Harry?" Snape asked, flatly. "It's called a locomotive." Snape was not about to teach him "Choo-choo train". He had his limits, after all.

Harry tilted his head and oohed some more.

"Yes it's all very interesting," Snape replied.

He walked to the back of the train and seated himself in an empty compartment, then slid the door shut. He knew there would only be a few others on this train today and therefore he would not tolerate anyone disturbing his solitude...Harry excepted of course. Snape placed Harry on his lap and glanced out the window. In a few moments the train whistle blew, which excited Harry greatly, and the train lurched into motion.

"Ugh..." Snape moaned, as his stomach jolted along with the train. He did not enjoy this form of travel at all. Harry on the other hand was completely fascinated. When the whistle blew again Harry gleefully clapped his hands and looked at Snape, who was leaning his head again the back of the seat with his eyes closed.

"'Nape?" Harry asked, concerned. He would be very distraught if Snape didn't pay him any attention, not when there were all these new things happening. "'Napey."

Snape's eyes snapped open. "Professor Snape. Not Snapey. Do you understand?"

Harry giggled and put a finger in his mouth. Then he took that finger out and pointed it at Severus. "'Napey!" he cried.

"Professor Snape." Snape corrected adamantly.

"No," Harry said, shaking his head. "No, 'Nape."

"We don't talk back, Harry. That is disrespectful. I don't want to lecture you about respect again."

Harry's response was to cuddle his head against Snape's chest and mutter, "'Nape, 'Nape," happily.

Severus got Harry's blanket out of the Essentials Kit and placed it over him. As the train rumbled along, Snape tightened his arms around Harry. He didn't want him to fall off his lap. Before long Snape was asleep too, and he stayed that way until the somewhat portly woman came along, pushing her trolley laden with sweets.

"Sir? Would you like anything?" she asked, in a very chipper voice.

Snape wearily blinked his eyes at her. She'd interrupted his sleep to try and sell him treats? "I'd like to continue napping." he said honestly.

"But would you like anything off the trolley?" she asked.

Snape couldn't believe this. "No," he stated.

"Well what about that big guy?" she said, smiling broadly and pointing at Harry.

"He wants to nap too," Snape answered.

"So would you like me to leave?"

Snape stared her right in the face. "About five minutes ago, yes,"

"Alright! Well I'll be back later in case you change your mind," she said, still smiling, then she continued down the corridor, whistling merrily.

Happy people. Ew. Snape shook his head and was thankful Harry hadn't been awakened by the encounter and within a few moments he was back asleep.

* * *

Once he had reached Hogwarts, Snape just wanted to feed Harry and himself and then turn in for the night. That wasn't going to work though, Dumbledore was insisting upon a teacher's meeting and "Welcome Back" party. Snape was beyond not in the mood. All he knew was that if Professor Trewlawny followed him around the way she had last year, begging him to dance, and predicting that if they did not fall in love then terrible, terrible things would happen, he was just going to lose it. He would hex them all and probably eat one of Dumbledore's lemon drops, just for spite. Nevertheless, Snape knew if he didn't attend of his own free will Dumbledore would just come down and get him, all twinkly eyed and happy. So, Snape changed into some of his nicer robes, and dressed Harry quickly in a clean green outfit. Then, grabbing the bag with Harry's things they went upstairs to the Great Hall.

**A/N: The welcome back party will be next chapter. Hope you enjoyed. :) **


	11. Chapter 11

From the moment they entered the room it was evident that Harry was going to enjoy this party more than Snape was. An enormous banner reading "TEACHERS, HOW I HAVE MISSED YOU!" hung across the huge entryway to the Great Hall**. **There were streamers everywhere. Multi-colored candles were bobbing up and down in the air and occasionally one would zoom into someone's face and beginning singing "Lollipop, Lollipop!". It was a very typical decorating job for Dumbledore. Harry was staring wide eyed at everything, looking happy but apprehensive at the same time. He wasn't used to so many people. Of course, Snape was one of the last to arrive.

"Ah Severus! You've arrived!" Dumbledore called across the Hall, bringing everyone's attention to the annoyed Potions Professor. "Fashionably late, as always."

"I assure you headmaster," Snape returned dryly. "My intentions were anything but fashionable,"

Dumbledore laughed and shook his head. "Oh Severus, you are a hoot. Come and have a seat!" he said, indicating an empty chair at the table where they were all seated. Severus was a bit miffed and insulted to note that a chair had not been left for Harry. It would have to be another meal with Harry on his lap, and it had not been kind of Dumbledore to leave out seating arrangements for a boy who he seemed so concerned about. Annoyed or not, Severus knew this was one evening he wouldn't be getting out of so he nodded to the old wizard and took the indicated chair. He happened to be sitting between Professor Sprout and Professor McGonagall. Directly across from him was another vacant chair.

"Excellent to see you," Professor Sprout said, happily. The two professors got along reasonably well, because Professor Sprout often provided Snape with ingredients for his potions. Besides the fact that Snape found her a bit slow at times, and that he found her speaking voice altogether too loud, he really didn't have much of a problem with her.

"Evening," he said back.

She chuckled. "Looks like you've been keeping yourself busy, Severus!" she commented.

From a couple seats away Nurse Pomfrey nodded enthusiastically. "Oh I know! But he insists the child isn't his. Still tending, hmm?"

Snape rolled his eyes.

"Oh but the boy isn't Severus'." McGonagall interjected, liking the fact that she was more in the know than many of the other teachers.

Flitwick raised his large eyebrows in surprise, and the look of them shooting up his bald forehead was quite an interesting sight. "Awfully quick to come to Snape's defense there, aren't you Minerva?" he squeaked, in good humor.

Minerva blushed deeply and Snape sent Flitwick a look that probably wasn't in very good tense, considering they were at a dinner party. Dumbledore, however, found the comment very funny and laughed, along with many of the other staff present.

"That boy," Dumbledore said, regaining his composure. "Does not belong to Professor Snape. I have merely asked Severus to watch out for him until I release him from that duty, and he has complied. I'm sure he would appreciate it if you would not give him grief about the situation,"

Snape nodded once in the direction of the headmaster and gave Flitwick one more glare.

It was then that Harry decided he was going to make the party more exciting. He grabbed a spoon from off the table and threw it. Just as Snape was about to tell him that such behavior was inappropriate Harry turned his head to Snape, looking ashamed and nodded. "No, Pot." he said sadly.

"Harry." Snape corrected, looking embarrassed.

And then Snape felt like hiding under the table, because from the entrance of the Great Hall came a loud voice. "Severus Snape!" it called, sounding within a trance. "I feel your presence HERE!" Madam Trelawny swept into the room and whisked her way to the empty chair across from Snape.

"I have consulted the stars," she declared. "And they have informed me of your deep and abiding love for me!"

"Consult again," Snape said with disgust. "Because no such feeling resides within this body,"

"Not in the body, perhaps," she said. "But most certainly, ah, most certainly in the soul!"

Snape was about to inform her otherwise, and it was certain that choice words would be involved, but Dumbledore spoke first.

"Sybill! You know the rules, dear girl, no predictions at parties. Have a seat and we can begin our fine meal!"

"Very well..." Trelawny relented.

A few moments after she sat, Dumbledore clapped his hands and food appeared on the table.

Snape allowed himself a small smile as he remembered one thing he loved about being at Hogwarts, not needing to cook.

When the meal began Snape offered the first bite of chicken to Harry who shook his head vehemently and put his hands over his mouth.

"Are you not going to eat today?" Snape asked, sounding surprised. Harry normally ate what he offered.

Harry responded by turning his head to hide his face in Snape's robes. Snape decided that Harry would eat when he was ready, and ate the bite himself. The meal went about as expected. Snape kept his head down and ate quietly, avoiding the conversation when at all possible. He did not mean to be rude, but why should he care what the other professors had been doing with their time off? The answers were predictable enough anyway. Sprout had been gardening, McGonagall and been chasing mice in cat form and reading Jane Austen, Quirrell had been studying both muggles and iguanas (an odd fetish of his), and the list went on. The only other professor present who seemed as uninterested in the talk as Snape was Professor Bins, who switched between looking sadly, longly, at the food in front of him and dozing off. They were about half way done eating, when Harry grabbed Snape's hand and with his other hand pointed to his mouth which he opened big.

"Are you ready now?" Snape asked quietly, but not tenderly. He blew on a bite of mashed potatos and fed Harry. The meal continued this way, and periodically one or another of the female teachers would coo over Harry and how well he ate his big-boy food. Snape wanted to tell them that he did not want this kind of talk around Harry, it would just make him grow up with an undistinguished vocabulary. However, he kept his mouth shut and did his best to ignore them.

"Now, come on Severus, you need to eat too. Let me feed the little man," Minerva suggested.

"I don't think he'd like that," Snape responded without a hint of hesitation.

"Severus. He can't be that fussy," she insisted.

Snape shook his head. He knew that sometime Harry was going to need to get used to other people, but he wasn't ready for that yet. That wasn't what he told himself though. He told himself he didn't want Harry making a scene and fussing, that was the story he was going to stick to.

McGonagall was put out, but she didn't ask again. She returned to the conversation and Snape fed Harry the last bite. He glanced up at the clock as the plates were cleared. Dinner was over, but the worst had only begun. He knew exactly what was going to come next, because it happened every single time.

"Alright!" Dumbledore called. "It's time for dancing, and don't just stand out on the side, you know what happens then."

**A/N: You people make my life complete with all the reviews. KEEP IT UP! That little button down there just looks so pushable doesn't it? :)**


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: I've missed you! But I'm back. :)

Music began to play. It was awful, and Severus couldn't keep from rolling his eyes. He wasn't really surprised that Dumbledore was choosing to play Muggle Music...but if it had to be Muggle Music couldn't it be Bon Jovi?

"Come, come, Severus. You should be dancing!" Dumbledore called out, bouncing by with McGonnagal on his arm. Snape rose stiffly from his chair and held one of Harry's little wrists in his hand and he proceeded to step back and forth.

"This is called dancing, Harry," Snape instructed. "It is a most strange form of past time, often associated with pain. Professor Snape chooses to avoid it the majority of the time,"

"'Nape!" Harry repeated with a grin.

"Well that's the most boring dancing I've ever seen," called out Madam Hooch. Snape wished she'd just mind her own business. Why was she watching him anyway? He turned his back and continued to dance in his slow, cautious manner. He got away with such dancing until the end of the song. Then Dumbledore came up.

"We've had a request for a switch of partners," he informed Snape.

"Oh have we?" Snape asked dryly.

Dumbledore nodded happily. It seemed caring for Harry was increasing Snape's popularity among the staff already.

"And who, pray tell, will dance with Harry?" Snape said coldly.

"Oh, don't worry about that, he'll be fine," Dumbledore said, reaching out and taking Harry. Harry stuck out his lip impudently and reached a hand toward Snape.

"I don't think this is a good idea, headmaster," Snape said.

"Oh pish. He just needs a minute to adjust. Go on, Severus."

Snape's lips compressed into a thin line, but he turned on his heel, his cloak swirling around him, and strode off to where Minerva was standing looking expectant.

"I hope you dance with a bit more vigor this dance," McGonnagal told him. "Your dancing with Harry looked positively dull,"

This led Snape to wonder why on earth she'd requested to dance with him then. Instead of saying anything though, he just raised on eyebrow and held out one hand. McGonnagal took it and they began to dance, Snape still just step touching stiffly.

"You could twirl me, Severus," Minerva suggested. "Or dip me."

"Heaven forbid," was Snape's reply.

"Honestly, Severus," she said quietly. "If Harry remains in your care for long, he is going to turn into a brute of a child,"

Snape was just about to retort when a hand clasped his shoulder. He turned his head and was met with the enormous eyes of Professor Trelawney.

"Why Severus," she said, sounding dazed. "We meet again,"

"Indeed," he said sarcastically.

Sybill began to dance in a crazed circle, bumping McGonnagal out of the way in the process.

"Ah," she said. "It seems as though the fates have left us to dance together. We cannot deny destiny!"

She reached out and wrapped him in a gripping hug. "You have kept the stars unhappy long enough!" she whispered passionately.

"Well the stars are going to have to deal with it," Snape said brusquely, detangling himself from her grasp and stepping away. He looked over and saw Harry, who was being bounced and spun by Professor Dumbledore. While Harry was not crying, he looked upset. His cheeks were red, his eyes wild, and every now and then he would hit Dumbledore's shoulder defiantly and declare, "No!"

Snape made his way back to the pair and said, "I will relieve you now," and reached out for Harry.

Dumbledore smilled and handed Harry back. "I was managing fine," he said kindly.

"I'm sure you were," Snape replied. Harry seemed very happy to be returned.

"'Napey." he said, contentedly rubbing his cheek against Snape's shoulder. j

"Bouncing calmed him down quite a bit, maybe you should try a bit more upbeat dancing," Dumbledore suggested.

"You asked me to care for him," Snape said stiffly. "And I will dance with him as I see fit,"

Dumbledore didn't bother holding back his chuckle as Snape strode away.

* * *

The evening was passing painfully slow. Snape had decided to make the dance routine just a bit more complex, for Harry's sake, but the song choices still made Severus cringe. At one point he just had to sit down. A prepubescent voice was crooning, "And I was like baby, baby, baby oh! Baby, baby, baby no!"

"Severus..." Dumbledore jokingly reminded Snape, passing him. "What are we supposed to be doing right now?"

"I refuse to encourage this blasphemy to the name of music," Snape answered.

Dumbledore just shook his head good-naturedly and passed by, but as the next song came on he looked at Snape pointedly and Snape stood up again.

Harry seemed to like the new song. He giggled and tapped his fist against Severus' shoulder excitedly. Snape bounced him a bit, and in the spur of the moment decided to spin around. Harry squealed with delight.

"Did Severus just spin?" Flitwick asked in amazement.

"I do believe so," replied Quirrel quietly. "Odd, very odd,"

Snape heard their comments and quit his dancing at once.

He walked over to Dumbledore and said, "Well I believe that's it for me, Headmaster,"

"Done dancing already?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, hard to believe, isn't it?" Snape replied sarcastically.

"We were all enjoying you letting your hair down a bit," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"I'm sure, but it is time he gets to bed," Snape said, indicating Harry.

Dumbledore's eyes were very twinkley as he replied, "Oh, yes, you are quite right."

Snape was beginning to walk away when Dumbledore called out, "Oh, and Severus?"

"Yes Headmaster?"

"You make a wonderful mummy."

* * *

Snape was changing Harry into his pajamas and muttering to himself. Mummy indeed. Did Dumbledore really believe he was becoming a softy? No. He had discipline, and was trying to respect Dumbledore's authority by caring for Harry. And yes, Harry had been an excellent excuse to get out of the rest of the dancing. He wished the other teachers would stop teasing him about it. Well one thing was certain, when the students arrived the next day they would not be detecting any difference in Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master. Having a little boy around wasn't going to shatter his composure, wasn't going to soften him. Severus told himself this as he set Harry down in his crib in the small room next to his own. As he retired to his bed he stuck to that thought and shut his eyes resolutely, happily planning the punishments he could inflict on naughty students.

* * *

It was only a couple hours later that a loud cry from Harry's room brought Snape's eyes snapping open. He lay there for a moment, debating whether or not he should check on Harry or try to let him fall back asleep on his own. After a few more minutes of Harry's crying Snape was up and peeking into his room. What he saw was Harry sitting up in his bed, clenching the bars of his crib. His eyes were huge and wet, his face was red and stained with tears. His hair was sticking up all over his head, the way it always did, but worse because he'd been sleeping. He turned his head, and once he saw Snape he put his arms up, his breath coming in short, frantic gasps. Snape walked over and picked him up. He was very warm, and his heart was racing, but his crying slowed as he buried his head into Snape's shoulder. Snape walked to the leather chair and sat down, imagining what could have had Harry so upset. It was just then that Harry murmured a word Snape had never heard him say before.

"Mama..." the little boy whimpered.

Snape's eyes squeezed shut. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think about her.

"Shh, go to sleep Harry," Snape said quietly. Eventually Harry did, but Snape had a very long night, sitting in that chair, holding Lily's son, and just thinking.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: All the reviews made me very happy! And just so you all know, I didn't try to abandon you for so long. I had this chapter ready for about a week and everytime I tried to upload the site told me there was an error. It's all better now though. :)

Needless to say, Snape had never felt so unprepared for the coming of the students. Normally he spent the week before their arrival picking out the most annoying, time consuming homework assignments, and dreaming up nearly impossible questions to quiz his students with. Normally he spent the night before poring over a potions journal and then retiring to bed early. This was not normal. Snape had only just drifted off, still in the leather chair with Harry snuggled against him, when a soft beeping from the other room, an alarm charm, sounded, waking him up. Snape pushed a strand of hair out of his face and looked down at Harry. Next to Harry's mouth there was a damp spot of drool on his robes.

"That's charming, Harry," Snape said, quietly. He stood up slowly, adjusting Harry in his arms so that he wouldn't be jolted around and therefore woken up, and placed him gently in his crib. Snape went back to his room and quickly got himself dressed and ready for the day. The students wouldn't be arriving till that night, so Snape had time to practice his glowers and glances sure to inspire shivers from the students during the opening feast that night. Snape did have to tidy and organize the classroom though, and finish getting Harry's things situated in the small living quarters. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Snape was in the tiny kitchen, furnished with black cabinets and counter tops, and featuring small serpent shaped handles on the cabinet doors, when he heard Harry stirring. He took the hot pan off of the stove top, then went to get Harry. Harry was singing to himself softly in the crib, lying on his side and patting one hand against his tummy. When Snape came in he sat up and grinned, rubbing his eyes with his fist to get what Snape's mother had always called "the sleepies" out of them.

"'Napey," Harry said, happily.

"Morning, Harry," Snape replied quietly. He carried him over to the dresser and searched for an appropriate outfit. Harry shrieked and pointed his finger dramatically at an item in the open drawer. It was, of course, the panda shirt. Snape tried not to groan. Looking down at the article of clothing he muttered, "Did I honestly purchase this?" The answer was obvious. Snape shook his head and took the panda shirt from the drawer. "What is this world coming to?" Snape asked himself as he dressed Harry in it. Harry was beyond delighted with his outfit. Once seated and strapped in to his new booster seat at the table Harry would not stop looking down at his shirt and oohing.

"Harry, eat your cheerios," Snape said. "Professor Snape isn't cooing at his buttons, is he?"

"'Nape!" Harry cheered. He pointed excitedly at the panda on his shirt and bounced up and down. "'Nape! Ooh!"

"That's called a panda, Harry," Snape said. "He is happily munching on bamboo, and unless you let him, and me, eat in peace, we're going to need to change your shirt."

Harry hummed happily to himself as he ate his cheerios, but he still looked down expectantly at his shirt frequently, and he always seemed excited to see that the panda was indeed still there.

* * *

The playpen was dragged into the potions classroom and Snape put the stuffed owl, some blocks, the orange car, and a couple chunky books into it, then set Harry down and prayed that Harry would be able to entertain himself for a time while Snape got the classroom ready for the next day and the first lesson. Harry had seemed to want the frog which he'd played with a few days ago, but Snape staunchly refused to let him have such an uneducational object. He was very pleased with himself for not giving Harry the frog. It only proved he was still tough as nails, and not at all controlled by his young charge. Harry sang songs consisting of "ooh", "aah", "ee" and "dodo" to his stuffed owl while Snape began checking the cupboards, ensuring they were all stocked with current ingredients. He straightened the shelves of textbooks with a flick of his wand, and set the cauldrons to cleaning themselves with another. He sat down at his desk, pleased that it was still in order, just as he'd left it the year before, and began looking over rolls and lesson plans.

Both Harry and Severus were busy until about lunch, which was when they received an unexpected visitor. Snape was just lifting Harry, who was clutching his owl still, from the playpen when Hagrid entered the room.

"Can I help you?" Snape asked.

"I just wanted to visit," Hagrid said, smiling. "You know how I have a soft spot for the little ones,"

As far as Snape was concerned, Hagrid had a spot for just about everything that he didn't, dragons, three headed dogs, little ones...

"We were just about to get some food actually," Snape said cooly, hoping that Hagrid would take that as a hint that it wasn't the best time for a visit.

"Oh excellent!" Hagrid beamed. "What are we havin'? And we wouldn't suppose you have any butterbeer on hand do ya?"

* * *

As a rule Snape did not entertain guests, and when he did it was against his will. Such guests were always quiet and civil though, such as Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. He certainly had never had the experience of allowing someone with the appetite and set of manners as Hagrid to eat at his table, and to be honest it wasn't an experience Severus had ever longed for. Snape had no idea what Hagrid was going to want to eat, and he didn't really care to feed him. However, there was nothing he could say or do to dissuade the half-giant and Snape found himself feeling very grateful for the house elves which staffed the Hogwarts kitchens. He had them prepare him some brisket, Harry a peanut butter and honey sandwich (honey was cleaner than jam, though more sticky), and Hagrid ordered an alarming array of roast duck, lamb's leg, and some sort of pig. Snape could not look at Hagrid while he ate, at risk of feeling sick, and so he kept his eyes on his plate as much as possible.

"I can't thank yer enough, Severus," Hagrid said. "I haven't been invited to dine in such a long time!" he wiped his arm with his sleeve and took a long, slurping gulp of butterbeer from an enormous tankard. After that display Snape could only imagine it must have been. Everytime Hagrid readjusted himself in the seat or reached across the table, Severus began to fear for his furniture. The chair protested quite loudly a couple times, and once Snape winced, sure the chair was going to collapse under Hagrid's weight. Suddenly Hagrid made an announcement which Snape hadn't been expecting.

"I know he's Harry Potter," Hagrid said. "Ya can't see 'is scar, it's covered up with all that hair, but look at his eyes," Hagrid said. "I just wanted you to know that I knew."

Snape nodded. There was no use in lying about it. "Yes, he is Harry Potter," Snape said flatly. "Is there anything else you wanted me to know?" his tone was impatient and tired.

"I just wanted to remind you," Hagrid said softly. "That he is going to have an important future. Please be kind to him. He already loves ya."

* * *

Hagrid had left just after eating, and Snape still felt uncomfortable about his little speech. People didn't love Snape. It wasn't something that happened, and Snape was ok with that. He didn't love people either. He'd loved once, or so he thought, but that had backfired on him, horribly. Snape set Harry down for a nap, ignoring his protesting cries of "'Nape!" and sat down in his favorite chair in the living room. He put his head in his hands. Was Dumbledore doing this to him on purpose?

He didn't need to learn to love people, he did better not caring about them. He believed in respect, he believed in dignity, and honor, and order, but love was unnecessary. Love made you vulnerable, it broke you. It allowed you to be betrayed, to be hurt. It had made him say things that made his cheeks burn when he thought about them now. It made him put his life in danger. It made him see a simple friendship as something more, and then watch that friendship get torn to pieces, along with his dreams, as the one friend he'd had married his enemy.

Why couldn't he let it go? They had been teenagers. It shouldn't matter anymore. He still felt pain, and remorse, but most of all he felt regret for allowing those feelings to reside in him. Despite what his dreams had been, what they'd used to be, he saw now that Lily and him, well it wouldn't have worked. It never would've really been what he needed. She wasn't meant to be with him, and he accepted that. It wasn't the life that was meant for him. So why did he still care? Why was there anger left? Snape stood and walked to Harry's room. He peered in and felt a stirring of affection for that little boy in the crib. He had never wronged him, it didn't matter who his parents were, it was just a little boy who needed his help. But a corner of Snape's heart remained stony, and cold, as he realized that when his eyes were closed, Harry was not at all like Lily, and there was no denying that he was James Potter's son.

* * *

A/N: sorry that this chapter ended reflective, sort of like the last one, but I think these little developments are important. Good chapter? Bad? COMMENTS? I love reviews! Review! More soon. :)


	14. Chapter 14

The sorting was done, the feast had been had, and the students were all giggling in their dormitories, wondering what the next day would bring for them. Severus was sitting in the living room. Harry had been asleep through the entire ordeal, and so Snape had left him in his crib. Of course, he'd cast a small charm on the crib which worked something like a baby monitor. If Harry stirred or began crying Snape would feel a tingling on the back of his neck and would go check on him. Luckily, Harry had slept peacefully and Snape had been able to glower and glare throughout the feast without interruption.

"'Nape!" Harry called from the other room.

Snape stood up and went to get the little boy. When he entered and saw Harry's happy face, his cheek all red from where it had been pressed against his fist in slumber, Snape couldn't help but smile a bit. He picked up the toddler and carried him to the kitchen. Snape felt guilty for resenting the boy earlier, he wasn't his father, and Snape was going to see to it that he would be raised not to act like him. He strapped Harry into his booster seat and brought Harry the plate of food he had saved for him from the feast, kept warm and fresh by another charm. Harry ate happily, chewing loudly, and waving his spoon around between bites. By the time he had finished he was very messy. Snape quickly washed him up, and got him into pajamas. Once he was ready for bed, Snape took Harry on his lap and sat down with him in the living room.

"Now listen, Harry," Snape said seriously. "Tomorrow all the boys and girls are going to come see Professor Snape. You need to be on your best behavior. No distractions, I have a reputation to uphold."

Harry gazed seriously into Snape's eyes and nodded.

"Good. There will be no silliness. Professor Snape demands respect in the classroom and you are not to interrupt that,"

"No. No Pot!" Harry declared.

"Your name is Harry," Snape said. "Now what shall we do before bedtime?"

* * *

It was the next morning. Snape hadn't felt so nervous in years. He had chosen to eat in his rooms, rather than try and get himself and Harry both ready in time to eat in the Great Hall. Besides, he wanted the students' first impression of him to be something a little more commanding than loving caregiver, not that he would ever consider himself that anyway. Snape had mulled over several options of what to do with Harry while he taught class. He could put the playpen in the room, he could hope he napped all day (even Severus knew that was a bad plan as soon as he thought of it), or he could let another teacher watch him. That plan didn't suit Snape at all. It made him irritable thinking about it. For the time being, Snape decided to try leaving Harry in the office. He would be close, and could hear him if he fussed, but he wouldn't present an immediate distraction.

It was almost frightening how small the office seemed with a playpen for Harry in there. Snape really couldn't think of a better option for the time though, so he stocked the playpen with toys, books, the owl, and a blanky. Harry seemed very interested by the potions classroom and didn't like it when Snape set him the playpen and then walked out of the office.

"'Nape!" Harry called out. Snape was tempted to chew his pinky nail, a habit he'd rid himself of when he was ten years old. The students would be arriving any minute. How was he going to handle this?

"'Napey!" came the plaintive cry again. Snape rushed from the front of the classroom, where he had posed himself dramatically, leaning against the desk in an intimidating fashion, to his office.

"Harry," he said sternly. "You have plenty to keep you occupied. Professor Snape is going to be very busy for the next little while."

Harry frowned, his bottom lip stuck out in a pout.

"Displacing your bottom lip like that will only lead you to a whole lot of disappointment," Snape said knowingly, and somehow somewhat wistfully.

Harry didn't move his lip, and reached his arm out to Severus.

Snape entered the office all the way and knelt next to Harry's playpen. He took Harry's hand in one of his and looked into his big green eyes. "You need to be calm, Harry," Snape said. "I need to work. Now say goodbye and behave yourself in here. I will check on you after class,"

Harry looked down sadly and picked up his owl.

"Goodbye Harry, Professor Snape will see you in a short while,"

"Bye-bye," Harry muttered, so quietly Snape felt extremely lucky he heard it.

* * *

"Welcome to Potions Class," Snape said, coldly, and of course not sounding very welcoming at all. This class was fourth years, they knew the drill so Snape didn't delve into the whole routine he had perfected the night before. It involved stopping death, brewing fame and glory and all that sort of thing. It was the best introduction he'd come up with yet, he thought he may even keep it for years to come. He secretly was very excited for the first year classes so he could give it, but for the fourth years he just reminded them that it was a "no nonsense class, which required the highest amount of discipline".

As he began giving students their first assignment, to brew a hair growing mixture, -amid cries of "What?" and "Already?"- Snape felt anxious, wondering how Harry was doing. He finally felt back in his element however when he was able to deduct ten points from Gryfindor, for disrespectful looks and gestures in his general direction.

* * *

The moment the last student was out of the classroom, Snape rushed to his office to check on Harry, who was asleep in his playpen, with his fist in his mouth. Snape allowed himself a small smile, and reached forward to touch Harry's thick, dark hair, when he heard footsteps approaching the classroom. Snape shook his head. He needed to get back in character. He gave Harry one more glance, just making sure he was okay, and then he went out into the classroom. He felt a tiny bit like doing a happy dance as he realized his next class was first years, Hufflepuffs. They were already easy to intimidate. Secretly, theirs was the class Snape liked to teach best, it always proved very entertaining. He crossed him arms severely across his chest and glared as the young students entered his classroom. Chatter and giggling stopped as each student caught sight of the Potions Master. Within moments the desks were filled with shivering students. Snape felt that tremendous feeling of power he so relished and took a breath. He opened his mouth, ready to deliver the introduction to Potions class which was going to knock the student's socks off or scare them sick. It was then that a cry came loud and plain from the office.

"'Napey! Napey!"

The students looked back and forth at each other and at their Professor. The brave ones smiled, and one boy who undoubtedly displayed courage worthy of Gryfindor laughed.

Professor Snape felt rather deflated. So much for that idea.


	15. Chapter 15

Harry squealed with delight when Professor Snape came into the office to check on him.

"Napey!" he called out happily, but it only took him one look at the Potion Master's face to see that 'Napey wasn't happy to see him also.

"Mr. Potter," Snape said sternly, his voice a whisper. "I hope you are absolutely delighted that you have completely destroyed my image on the first day of class!" the last words were sharply enunciated.

The smile dropped from Harry's face. He knew he was in trouble. Little tears welled up in his eyes and he covered his face with his hands.

"No, no Pot!" he said sadly.

Snape reached out to pick him up, because the hiding in the office arrangement clearly wasn't working. As soon as Harry saw Snape's hand extended however, he drew breath in sharply and shrunk back, squeezing his eyes shut tightly.

Snape's countenance softened in an instant. "Harry," he said quietly. "Calm down." He removed Harry's hands from his face and looked into his frightened eyes. "I am not going to hit you."

He picked Harry up, and Harry buried his face in Snape's shoulder, clinging to his robes with both fists. Snape held him there for a moment, but time was wasting away. He needed to go back to his class.

"Alright Harry," Snape said, trying to free himself from Harry's grasp. As soon as he got one of Harry's hands detached from the robes however, Harry would just grab on tighter with the other one, and would snuggle his face even more resolutely into Snape's shoulder.

"Harry," Snape said, not in an angry voice, but forcefully.

Harry shook his head. "No. Pot be!"

It seemed Snape had no other option. With a great feeling of dread, Snape stepped back out into the classroom, wondering how he was ever going to correct this situation.

The students regarded their professor with wide eyes and questioning glances.

"Who's that?" asked a frizzy haired, blue eyed girl, a couple rows back, pointing at Harry.

"This individual," Snape said. "Is my assignment from Professor Dumbledore. He is not to be a distraction,"

Harry took that moment to turn his head to look at the room full of students.

A little girl in the front with blonde pigtails shot her hand up. "Professor? Are you married?"

"No."

"Where did he come from? Whose is he?"

"Why do you have to watch him?" students were asking.

"I highly doubt any of you need answers to those questions. We are not discussing the details of either my life of his. Potions Class will-"

Snape was interrupted by another student. "Do you also teach Child Development, Professor?" a boy called out.

Snape really was beyond such taunts. He'd been made fun of for "cooking" just about as long as he could remember. Now he was going to be mocked for child care? He didn't think so. Instead of turning red or getting angry, a small smile actually passed Snape's features. "Twenty-five points from Hufflepuff," he said in an even, bored tone.

"What? But Professor!" cried the girl in the front. "It's the first day!"

"Oh, I'm aware of that fact, Miss Wyman," Snape said. "And I don't find that fact particularly disturbing." His voice dropped to a quiet, tense level. " In fact, I would feel no remorse in taking fifty points from your house and giving you all detention, if provided with a reason."

The classroom was quiet.

Snape felt triumphant. "Get out your cauldrons," he told the students. "And, if I were you, I would take notes. I'm only going to give these instructions once."

* * *

The Hufflepuffs left his classroom as nervous as they'd come in, despite the fact that Snape was still holding Harry on his hip. Well...maybe a little less terrified because Harry began waving goodbye to them as they went out. But still. Snape felt very accomplished. Snape was ready for a short break, and decided not to eat lunch in the Great Hall, but in his rooms. He feared this whole eating alone thing may become a habit-less chances to show the students what an intimidating figure he could be- but decided not to worry about it. If he could keep a classroom quiet and under control, holding a little boy all the while, well, it meant he was good. Real good. Snape was just setting Harry in the booster seat when Dumbledore tapped lightly on the door.

"Severus?" came the Headmaster's voice. "Severus, I brought you your mail. Your owl came, but you never came upstairs to receive any of your letters."

Snape opened the door and accepted the two envelopes which Dumbledore was holding out. "Thank you, Headmaster," he said. "Is there anything else you need? Harry is hungry,"

"No, I'll be on my way," Dumbledore said. He smiled, "But I expect to see you in the Great Hall tonight."

Snape nodded and shut the door. He heard Dumbledore humming as his footsteps echoed through the empty corridor. Snape sat at the table and opened the first letter. It was in a plain white envelope, addressed with shimmery purple ink. Snape set the paper on fire, after reading only the first couple lines.

'_Dear Professor Snape,_

_Come now Severus, these charades must come to an end. I know you have always dreamed of being with me. Our connection is so strong that you cannot hide anything from me, and I can so easily decipher your innermost thoughts. I know you want me, Severus! I know you need me!"_

Snape was not sure how angry Dumbledore would be if Professor Trelawney got pushed off the Divinations tower. It would make the whole school a better place, after all. Picking up the second envelope, which was a dark gray, Snape hoped its contents wouldn't be quite so horrifying. What he found, however, was worse.

"Professor Snape,

We are aware that you are acting as Protector for a young boy named Harry Potter. Why are you not doing your duty? We are all very suspicious of you, despite the confidence the Dark Lord had in you. You know how dangerous the boy is, he must be killed. We will know if you do not complete the task."

All that served as a signature was a grotesque drawing of a skull with a snake issuing forth from its mouth. Severus dropped the letter, and shut his eyes. This was getting dirty much faster than he'd anticipated. He needed to talk to Dumbledore, before anything else could happen.

A/N: Yes? Plot line? Do we like? Review!


	16. Chapter 16

"Hmmm," Dumbledore said, pensively, twirling the end of his beard with one finger, a nervous habit he'd been trying to break for years. "I wasn't expecting this for some time,"

"They know I have him, Headmaster," Snape said, gravely. "Denying who he is won't do any good, it will only make them suspect me more. I can't go into hiding right now either,"

"Why not?" Dumbledore asked. "It's actually what I had in mind. I though maybe Mexico. A little sun would be good for your skin anyway," Then despite the seriousness of the situation, Dumbledore giggled at the thought of Snape with a tan.

"Because they are suspicious enough now that they wouldn't stop searching until they located me, and then we'd all be in serious trouble," Snape said, ignoring the giggles.

"Alright then Severus. What do you have in mind?"

"Being open about it." Snape said. "I have to come up with an excuse for keeping the boy that I can give to the Death Eaters."

Dumbledore took a moment to think about it. He popped a lemon drop into his mouth, sucked on it, had another one, played a game of indoor croquet by himself and then returned to sit across from Severus. "It just might work," he decided. "Do you have something in mind?"

Severus nodded. "It's nothing elaborate, but I know these people. It should work."

"I trust you," Dumbledore said, in what was supposed to be an encouraging way. Snape grimaced, those were words which made him uncomfortable. He wasn't even sure he trusted himself. He said nothing in response but gave a short nod.

"Well then," Dumbledore said, leaning back in his large plushy armchair. "I guess it's time you took Harry on a playdate. You need to visit the Malfoys."

* * *

Snape couldn't just leave at once, he had classes to attend to. He determined to leave for a little visit as soon as possible, possibly during lunch break. It was morning, and Harry was sleeping soundly. Snape sat at his desk and quickly wrote a short note to the Malfoy's, explaining that he would like to visit to discuss news of some importance as quickly as possible. He tied the message to his owl's leg and hoped the Malfoy's would get the note before breakfast, so that he could have a reply that day. Once that was finished, he went in to wake up Harry. Harry was lying on his side, with his fist in his mouth and the stuffed owl on top of his head. Snape reached down and lifted Harry from the crib.

"No! 'Nape!" Harry whined, shaking his head and screwing his eyes shut. "Pot sleep!"

"No Harry. It's time to wake up," Snape said, noting that Harry had said a new word, a fact which would need to be documented at the first available time. He got Harry dressed and fed quickly, then took a deep breath as they headed up to the Great Hall for breakfast. This wasn't necessarily something Snape was excited to do.

As soon as they entered the Great Hall, Snape had to stop himself from muttering a curse. Next to his seat at the Teacher's table there was a large, plastic high chair.

"Have they no dignity?" Snape asked Harry. "You and I both know that you do not need to sit in such a monstrous seat in order to be fed."

Harry nodded in agreement, the way he knew Snape approved of every time Snape gave him these speeches.

"Ahem," Snape said dryly, reaching Dumbledore. "Harry actually uses a booster seat now. This...contraption...will not be necessary."

Dumbledore smiled innocently. "Oh is that right? Well then, I guess you may sit with him on your lap today until a proper-what did you call it?- booster seat may be found."

Snape bit back his sarcastic comment, because he knew that he didn't want Harry to start using that sort of tone with him once he got old enough to do. Instead he just gave the Headmaster a look, letting him know he was not amused, and sat down in his chair with Harry perched on his knee.

As more and more students began to fill the Hall, Harry became increasingly nervous. He wasn't used to all the people, and his eyes grew large and frightened. He refused each bite Snape tried to feed him, which made Snape frustrated. If Harry didn't eat now, he was just going to get hungry and whiny later, as in during class time. Snape was having a hard enough time staying intimidating as the situation stood. He couldn't afford to take breaks to feed Harry during classes.

"Eat this," Snape said, poking a spoon at Harry's lips.

"Ah oh!" Harry protested, turning his head away and pointing a little finger out at all the students.

"Oh come on," Snape said. "I'm the scary one. Not them. Now listen to Professor Snape like a good little boy."

"No no!" Harry said, his voice getting higher, and his lip poking out.

"Harry," Snape said in a quiet, warning tone. "We do not cause scenes in public places. It's a big no-no. Professor Snape is not raising you to have such manners. Now please eat this food like a big boy,"

Harry knew that tone. It meant 'Napey was serious. He hesitantly opened his mouth and allowed Snape to feed him. The rest of the meal passed without incident, and as soon as Harry was done eating, Snape exited the Great Hall and headed towards his classroom.

* * *

It had been during his first class that his owl had returned with a reply written by Mrs. Malfoy.

Severus,

If you have something to discuss, and it is what we are supposing it is, then you are right. It needs to be discussed right away. You are most welcome to come this afternoon or whenever you find most convenient. Let us know when.

-Narcissa

Snape was glad they were being so receptive, but he realized a problem. Normally if Snape wanted to get somewhere quickly he would just get off the Hogwarts grounds and then apparate, but he was still hesitant to do so with Harry in tow. With a sigh, he realized that the visit was going to need to be delayed until that weekend, when there would be time to catch a train. He wrote a quick reply, explaining that he would be there Saturday morning, and sent it off with his owl, giving it a quick pat on the head, to thank it for its journey back and forth. Harry was napping peacefully in the office, and Snape returned to class. He had a few more days of semi-normalcy before having to make the situation with Harry worked, and Snape just hoped the Malfoy's would accept his word.

* * *

**A/N: I'm back! Did you miss me? School and finals have been crazy. Hopefully next chappy-Snape's visit to the Malfoy Manor- will be up soon. :) REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! :) :)**


	17. Chapter 17

The train ride had been uneventful, Harry having slept the whole way. All in all, Snape felt it was going much to smoothly. Not only that but the sun was shining. The whole situation was much too encouraging. Snape took a deep breath and raised his hand to knock. He'd been standing awkwardly on the Malfoy's front step long enough, and the albino peacocks strutting around the yard were starting to give him strange looks. As if they had any right to look at him that way.

"Bee bee!" Harry squealed suddenly, tapping Snape's shoulder with excitement.

"Calm down, Harry," Snape instructed, repositioning him on his hip. It was time. He knocked resolutely on the door. There was no turning back now...

"Hello sir," said a voice as the door swung open. Snape looked down in distaste. A house elf. He understood their uses in the Hogwarts kitchens, but thought their presence in Wizarding homes to be somewhat disconcerting.

"I'm here to see your masters," Snape said. "I presume they were expecting me?"

"Yes sir," the elf said, nodding. "Right this way."

Snape entered the immaculately clean house and glanced about casually. It was nothing like his home on Spinner's End. The front entryway was large and open, two staircases emptied grandly into the middle of the room from either side. A large fountain bubbled and frothed in between them, the water shimmering and changing colors from one moment to the next. Snape resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The Malfoys redecorated, or redesigned, their manor every couple of months. Just because magic made it easy, didn't mean it was necessary. Harry, however, was captivated by the fountain.

**"**Whassat?" he asked excitedly, pointing to it.

"That, Harry, is an ostentatious display in the form of a water fountain. In the front room of a house,"

Harry nodded, as though he'd understood every word Snape said.

**"**Ah, Severus," a smooth voice floated through the air. Snape turned to see Lucius Malfoy walking towards him with an air of purpose. "We've been expecting you."

Snape nodded in greeting. "Lucius,"

Mr. Malfoy's eyes took in Harry and he raised his light, slender eyebrows questioningly. "We have much to discuss," he said simply. "Right this way."

Snape followed the slightly taller man through glass doors to the side of the room and entered a parlor adorned with dark couches and heavy green curtains. Narcissa Malfoy, who had been sitting on one of the couches rose as the men entered the room and extended her hand to Severus. He took it lightly and bent over it. He couldn't bend very far though, or else he would have spilled Harry to the ground. As it was, Harry quite enjoyed it.

"Whee!" he cried happily as Snape straightened back up.

"Please have a seat, Severus," Narcissa said quietly, sitting back down. Lucius sat down beside her, and Snape sat down on the other couch, facing them.

"How are things at the school?" Lucius asked politely, picking a slender goblet up from the dark wood coffee table between them. He took a drink from the glass, but his eyes watched Snape keenly over the rim as he did so.

Snape sighed. "The school is just lovely," he said sarcastically, but in his normal blank tones. "Now, I mean no disrespect, but we all know that this is not a social visit. I would like to explain the situation,"

Narcissa's eyes clearly showed her relief. Lucius' face remained the same, but a certain heaviness dropped, now that they were no longer forcing pleasantries and dealing with the matter at hand.

"I trust that's the boy?" Lucius said, getting right to the point. Harry was sitting next to Snape on the couch, and as Lucius asked the question he smiled and flopped over, landing his head on 'Napey's lap.

"Correct." Severus responded.

Narcissa tilted her head. "Severus, we hold you in the utmost respect. We normally would not be questioning you... we're friends. However, there are those who-"

She was cut off as Lucius said, "There are those among us who question your loyalties. What exactly is going on?" Lucius voice was loosing its control, but it wasn't anger that tinged his voice. It was worry. Though he was Severus' senior, they had become very good friends.

"Lucius, you know I was left in a precarious position to spy on Dumbledore, and that my ability to stick in that position was one of the things that made me valuable to the Dark Lord,"

Lucius nodded waiting for Snape to finish.

"Well it was Dumbledore who asked me to get the boy. Killing Potter off would certainly not keep me in Dumbledore's good books."  
At hearing the word "Potter", Harry smiled and whispered to himself, "Potpot."

Snape continued, "In fact, it would probably lead to another scouring of the Death Eaters,"

Narcissa winced at the thought of that. She knew her husband had been lucky to evade prison. Her sister had not been so lucky.

"I understand that," Lucius said. "But the others aren't going to accept it. They aren't going to like it."

Snape shook his head. "There is nothing to be done. Besides," he added. "Under my care, is it not imaginable that he could be turned into something useful?" a slight smile twinged at the corner of Severus' mouth as he looked across the table at his friend, willing him to trust him and to let the matter go. He was prepared for further debate but he didn't want to do it.

A slight smile then passed Malfoy's features as well. "Well that could prove most...ironic." he said.

Snape shut his eyes for a moment in relief and smiled again, this time it was just as small, but genuine. ****

Suddenly Narcissa sat up straight and her eyes widened. "Excuse me," she said. "I'll be back in just a moment,"

As she left the room Snape looked at Lucius with one eyebrow raised. Lucius smiled and took another drink from the goblet which was still in his hand. After swallowing he answered, "She must have heard Draco crying. How she hears him from upstairs I don't know, but she does. And she refuses to let the House Elves tend to him whenever he wakes up," though his words could have seemed like he was mocking, Lucius spoke fondly, and when Narcissa came back into the room, baby in arms, Lucius smiled warmly at her. He set his glass down and held out his arms to take the boy from his wife.

Narcissa smiled and put Draco onto Lucius' lap as she resumed down next to him. Harry had been very still while the adults talked, his head was still resting in Severus' lap, but when he saw another little person he sat up and started tapping Snape excitedly on the arm.

"Beebee!" he exclaimed. "Beebee!" he pointed to Draco with his other hand. Harry was enthralled. He kicked his legs up and down and looked with wonder between Severus and the little blond boy.

"Yes, Harry," Snape said, grabbing Harry's hand gently so he would stop hitting. "It's another baby, like you,"

Draco had been sitting facing Lucius and was patting his face over and over with his hands, but at hearing the other voices he turned his head.

"Baby!" he cried, pointing at Harry, his face breaking out into a grin.

"Oh dear," Narcissa said, smiling. Turning to Lucius she finished, "It looks like our son might want to make friends."

**A/N: Oh my dear sweet readers. I'm so sorry. It's been forever. If you hurry and review I will write again within the week I PROMISE!**  
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	18. Chapter 18

Snape was very relieved. He sat on the train, quietly contemplating his good luck, while Harry sang him a song of nonsense words and occasionally patted his face. The Malfoys had believed him, supported him even, meaning his secret was safe. Harry was safe.

"Shh," Snape warned as Harry's song increased in volume. Harry nodded his head up and down, but kept singing, patting Snape's cheeks with both hands. He'd seen Draco patting Lucius' face and it had made him eager to try it out for himself.

"Don't be rough, Harry," Snape said, catching Harry's hand, after a particularly good slap landed square on his nose. "When little boys hit, they often do not enjoy the consequences."

Harry immediately looked repentant and folded his arms in his lap, getting very quiet. Within a moment or two, however he resumed his singing. Though he'd never say so, Snape was glad, because it had been too quiet for him to really think properly without the happy sounds. There it was. Harry was a white noise maker for Severus. He had a benefit. That's why Snape continued to feel more attached to the little boy. Never mind that Snape had never needed white noise before. In fact, in the past he had craved absolute solitude, complete silence. That little detail wasn't going to pester him now though.

"Napey?" said Harry abruptly, peering hopefully up into Severus' eyes. "See Dwakey?"

Snape smiled. Harry and Draco had come to like each other immediately. After seeing one another they had happily played on the floor for an hour, before Snape had declared it was time to go. Narcissa and Lucius had seemed very glad to see the two boys getting along so well. Apparently, this was the first child Draco had taken a liking too. The especially impressive thing was that Draco had even offered to share his toys with Harry. Harry, who had never seen so many toys in his life, was positively aglow.

"Yes Harry," Snape said. "You will probably get to play with Draco again soon." The fact that they'd gotten along well had eased a worry Snape had had ever since Harry had been taken into his care. If Harry had a friend, it wouldn't be all left up to him to teach Harry to play correctly. He hadn't really known what he was going to do about that previously. Now it wouldn't be such a burden. Harry leaned against Snape's chest and shut his eyes. As he drifted off to sleep, soothed by the constant rocking of the train, Snape continued to think.

He really didn't know how to play. He didn't know how to have a good time. He didn't know how to enjoy things, to lose himself in the moment. A thought occurred to him that he didn't even know how to laugh. Not truly, not because he was happy. How was he supposed to teach these things to the vulnerable little boy whom he now protected? Snape shut his eyes. He was not about to let himself feel guilty. He forbade it. Emotion very seldom had any benefit; he had found this out through many years of pain. Occasionally anger could do something for a person. But not sorrow, and certainly not self-pity. There wasn't any point in sitting there feeling sorry for himself, but there wasn't any point denying the truth either. The reason he couldn't teach these things to Harry was that he never had a chance to learn them himself.

Snape had very few memories from his childhood. For the most part, he resolved not to think about them. If they ever began to surface he pushed them down. That's why he'd always been so smart. He never let himself fall to daydreaming. He spent every moment he could in something productive, keeping his mind occupied so it wouldn't wander to places he didn't want to go.

Snape looked down at the scar on Harry's forehead. That was the mark of magic, a wound left by a dark power. Severus had been wounded when he was a baby as well, but his had been an entirely different kind of wound. The kind left inside, but that showed on the outside as well. It was a wound which tormented him, the feeling that he had never been wanted. It wasn't that his mother hadn't loved him per se...it was that she'd been too consumed with sorrow to take care of him. To take care of anything, really.

As the train chugged across the countryside, Snape's thoughts wound together in a spiral, down down down. Somehow he allowed himself to delve into the scenes from his childhood, which had lodged themselves into his brain, though he'd banished them long ago. The images flashed through his mind as he sat alone, and for the first time in years, he didn't push them away.

His mother crying. Screaming, pleading. This was the predominant memory. Even if it wasn't the center of the memory it remained as a background noise. It was the noise which drove him out of the house to wander the streets by himself, so he wouldn't have to hear it anymore. He wouldn't come back until nighttime, when his mother would be asleep. He knew his parents weren't worried about him, and that they would not be waiting there to comfort him when he got home, but each time he pushed the door open he wished they would be, just the same.

A tall, dark haired man looking at him with flashing, angry eyes, telling him to go to his room and not to come out. He never understood why this happened. One moment everything would be fine, and suddenly he was being sent out.

He'd liked to draw. He had a little packet of crayons that held four colors: red, blue, yellow, and brown. He wished he had a black. That was the color he knew. He colored on the newspaper in the evening time before going to bed, but one afternoon he colored before Father got a chance to read the newspaper. That was a particularly bad night. After being sent to his room, Severus heard dishes smashing, and in the morning his mother had cuts on her arms and on her face. She'd taken him with her to the store to buy some plates, and people had hurried away from them wherever they walked.

People stared at him with distaste whenever he walked down the street, his ill fitting clothes either dragging on the pavement, or showing inches of bare skin. The other little boys would laugh at his long hair. One day he'd tried to cut it, and that had made Father mad too. He had bruises the next day, along with his brand new haircut. The little boys still made fun of him.

He remembered the night he had woken up feeling very cold, the familiar sound of yelling reaching his ears. He had left his room to see what was going on. The door had been flung wide open... His mother had been lying on the front step, her body shaking with tears. Father was nowhere to be seen, he must have just left. His mother was shouting for him to come back, each word seeming like a supreme effort as her body shook with tears. Severus had gone to her to see what was wrong. He tried to hug her. She pushed his arms away. The words she'd responded with when he told her he loved her, to please not cry anymore, were blazed into his mind: Go away, Severus. Just go to your room.

Harry whimpered in his sleep. "Shh, Harry," Snape said quietly, smoothing his hair away from his forehead. "You're safe. I will always be here to protect you."

**A/N: Sooo...I broke away from the cutesy, but I think I truly discovered Snape in this chapter. PLEASE review on this chapter! I need to know what you think! And thank you for the reviews. I will update again soon. 3**


	19. Chapter 19

"How did it go?" Dumbledore asked, walking up to Snape in the corridor. He was just getting back and Harry was still asleep, his cheek resting on Snape's left shoulder.

"It went well," Snape answered. He bore good news, fantastic really, but he was just too tired and too out of sorts to have a long conversation about it now.

Despite his quirks, Dumbledore was something of a brilliant wizard and a very perceptive old man, and he understood instantly that Snape was in a different sort of mood right now. He needed to be left in peace. "Wonderful," Dumbledore said. "We can discuss it tomorrow afternoon, perhaps. For now, you look tired. I'll let you be,"

"Thank you, headmaster," Snape said, appreciatively. He then made his way down to the dungeons, and into his rooms. Harry was laid down in the crib. He whimpered for a moment, but Snape knew he'd be fine. He walked to the kitchen and got himself a drink. He sat at the table, sipping and breathing slowly, trying to clear his mind. When his drink was gone he stood slowly, his chair screeching against the dark hard wood flooring as it was pushed back. He massaged his temples with his right hand and walked to his room. As he passed Harry's bedroom door, he could detect the sounds of Harry sleeping soundly. Snape sighed with relief and pushed his own door open. What he needed now was rest. It had been a tiring day, emotionally and mentally. He'd started out filled with concern about Harry's well-being and then had visited a part of himself he shut off from the world. It was a part he denied anyone else to ever know, and that included himself. He slipped his shoes off and set them next to his bed, for once not untying them first. Then he let his head hit the pillow, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_Bang. Bang. Bang._ Snape opened his eyes. What was going on? The banging sound from Harry's room continued and Snape smiled wryly to himself. Harry was not only awake, but he was insistent that Snape know all about it. Pushing open the door, Snape saw Harry standing up in his crib, holding himself there with one hand, and using the other to hit a plastic rattle against the crib's side.

"You may stop abusing that poor rattle now, Harry," Snape said, picking him up. "Professor Snape understands. You're up."

Harry looked at Snape as though he were very disappointed and muttered something in baby language is a tone which could only be interpreted as scolding.

"Yes, I understand, Harry. I've been a very bad Snape, keeping you waiting. Too bad I'm not raising you to be spoiled this way, isn't it?" Snape said, carrying Harry into the kitchen, and strapping him into his booster seat at the kitchen table. It was dinner time, and Snape decided to cook tonight. True, the house elves were capable of bringing them dinner, but it wouldn't hurt Snape to put something together. It was an odd mood that took him every now and again, the inclination to cook. Once Dumbledore had found out and told some of the other professors that Severus liked cooking. For about two months after, they had teased him, asking him to bring cookies to staff meetings, and making clever remarks about how it wasn't surprising, because, "after all, cooking and potions are basically the same subject". Minerva had even given him an apron. Which Snape had burned. Snape snorted as he threw some pork cutlets into a frying pan and set them cooking with a quick, non verbal incantation. He snorted in a very dignified way though, or at least so he told himself. Harry, hearing the noise, decided to repeat it. His snort was not anywhere near dignified, though very loud. Snape turned, startled.

"Goodness Harry, aren't we the little pig today?" he asked with a smile.

Harry looked at him confused.

"Snort is what the piggies say," Snape explained, snorting again for Harry's benefit. It was the first time in his life Snape had used the word "piggies". He turned back to the stove and with a quick flick of his wand, summoned some of the spices from the rack, and he had the meat seasoned quickly. It wasn't such a hysterical thing, Snape cooking. It wasn't like he stood behind big, marble counters, his hair done up like Julia Child, and explained to other people how to properly butcher a chicken or bake a pie. He just enjoyed the fact that he was completely self-reliant. He had to be.

* * *

After dinner, Snape decided that he and Harry would have an educational activity. Either that, or saying "piggy" had been way too much of an accomplishment for him and he needed to use such words again. He sat Harry down on the floor and pulled a thick plastic canister out of Harry's toy chest. He unscrewed the lid and dumped out the contents, revealing lots of little animal replicas, all of them about the size of Harry's palm. Harry immediately grabbed the panda figurine, and stuck its head in his mouth.

"Harry, that is not the purpose of this exercise," Snape said. "And what is it about pandas that captivates you so?"

Harry took the panda out of his mouth long enough to happily squeal, while waving the panda in the air, then stuck it's head back into his mouth.

"Actually, Panda rather detests the climate which you are now subjecting him too." Snape informed Harry, removing the toy from the little boy's mouth. "So he is going to take a nice, quiet holiday and we can visit him later." With that, he dropped the panda back into the canister.

Harry's eyes grew large and his bottom lip began to poke out pitifully, until Snape distracted him with another animal. It was, in fact, a pig.

"Do we remember what this says, Harry?" Snape asked, holding the pig out in front of him.

Harry shook his head no.

Snape gave his dignified snort again. "The piggy says snort," and he snorted once more for good measure.

Harry smiled and snorted back.

Snape smiled. He truly was a wonderful teacher. "Good, Harry!"

Harry clapped his hands and giggled, and snorted once more.

"Yes the piggy snorts. Now, this is a horse. The horse says, 'neigh'. Can you neigh Harry?"

Harry neighed back, shaking his head vigorously to properly accentuate the sound. Snape had not had so much fun in ages, not since proving that there was in fact, a much easier way to brew the Speeding Syrum than anyone had ever discovered before. They went through all the animals which Snape could make sounds for several times, the other quiet ones joining Panda for a holiday in the canister. It wasn't until Harry fell asleep, lying on the carpet, that Snape put the toys away and decided it was indeed time for bed.

* * *

The game was Harry's new favorite thing. The next morning, when Snape went to retrieve him from his crib, Harry looked at him wide eyed and snorted loudly. "IG!" he declared.

"We can play the animal game after breakfast," Snape told Harry, feeling glad it was a Sunday. That way he would get to teach Harry for a day, instead of his students. Harry was honestly much brighter than any of them. If they caught on as fast as Harry did, he wouldn't have to assign near as much homework. Plus, this helped Snape feel like he was truly fulfilling his duty in raising Harry to be an intelligent young man. It didn't matter who the child was and whether Snape liked them or not, they needed to know their animal sounds if they wanted to get anywhere in life.

After eating a quick breakfast, Snape got the canister of animals back out. It took plenty of repetition for Harry to get the sounds down, but he had a few truly mastered. A few minutes before Snape was about to put the animals away to get lunch, after which time he truly intended to quit playing, put Harry down for a nap, and get lesson plans ready, he heard a knock on the door.

Snape walked to it and opened it up. "Albus," he said with a nod, remembering that Dumbledore had wanted to talk. "Come inside."

Dumbledore walked into the living room and saw Harry playing on the floor, happily with the animals.

"Ah, hello little Harry," Dumbledore said with a smile. "What are you doing?"

Harry held up a cow and gave an emphatic "moo!"

"He's learning some sounds." Snape responded.

"Well wonderful! Let's see!" Albus said, smiling. He lowered himself to the floor to sit with Harry and Snape sat too. This felt somewhat uncomfortable, sitting on the floor with Dumbledore. They certainly had never sat this way to have a discussion before, and it was a little odd. Snape was much more accustomed to the more formal, and he handled that better as well. However, Albus seemed genuinely interested in seeing Harry's newfound skill, so Snape had no choice but to let him see.

"What does a pig say?" he asked, holding up the pig. Harry snorted and Dumbledore laughed merrily.

"Terrific, Harry!" he complimented, clapping his hands, causing Harry to clap as well. Snape also had Harry demonstrate the sounds of a horse, cow, lion, sheep, duck, and a frog. After each animal, Dumbledore congratulated Harry, and they clapped.

"Now Harry," Dumbledore asked. "What does Professor Snape say?"

"No Pot!" Harry responded immediately, shaking his fist for emphasis.

Dumbledore laughed heartily at that one. "And what does Harry say?" he asked.

Harry smiled hugely and flopped himself onto Snape's lap. "Love Napey!"

* * *

**A/N: A couple things: 1) Please just try to imagine a Snape as Julia Child. That thought entertained me for...I don't know how many minutes, but it still makes me happy. 2) I am ELATED with you people for reviewing. You all deserve sparkly cookies and if I could give them to you I would (eat them in your mind, k?) and 3) I actually had a planned ending for this story but...it involves Snape eventually giving Harry back. In some people's reviews I have been asked expressly not to do this, or to keep this fic going through Harry's schooling years. I NEED OPINIONS. What do you all want? Let me know! Loves to all of you!**


	20. Chapter 20

Sitting at the table, with his hands folded in front of him, Dumbledore listened as Snape explained exactly what had gone on at the Malfoy Manor. Dumbledore seemed pleased and smiled at Snape, but the smile was not quite as warm as it normally was. Snape detected this immediately and felt his stomach drop. They weren't out of trouble yet.

"What is is, Headmaster?" Snape asked, tone hesitant. He wasn't sure he really wanted to know.

"I'm afraid that, while you have done a marvelous job, the Death Eater threat is not quite over."

Snape looked at him quizzically.

Dumbledore continued. "As you know, not all the Death Eaters were caught. Those in Azkaban now are merely the most blatant offenders, and even some of those have managed to keep themselves out of jail."

Snape knew what was coming and he didn't really want to hear it. "Yes. And?"

"And I have discovered the location of a meeting spot for some of these people. I need you to infiltrate -"

Snape interrupted Dumbledore mid-sentence by pushing his chair back sharply and beginning to stand up. "I need to go check on Harry," he said.

Dumbledore smiled sympathetically. "You just put him down to sleep five minutes ago, Severus," he said kindly. "Please sit down. I need you to do this. You are the only one who can."

Snape sat back down. He was being silly. This was the part of his duties he was prepared to handle, it was the child rearing which was the scary prospect. "Forgive me, Headmaster," he said, tone calm again.

Dumbledore picked up where he had left off. "I need you to infiltrate their group. Some of them you know, others I'm not so sure about. Whoever they are, your mission is the same. Despite the fact that Voldemort is gone now, it doesn't mean that the Death Eaters aren't still dangerous. The Order must know what they are up to. For all we know, they could be finding ways to bring him back, he surely isn't gone for good. We need to be a step ahead of them, whatever they are planning. Can you do this Severus?"

Snape nodded. This was exactly what he had expected. Despite the Dark Lord's disappearance and apparent defeat, Snape knew his true spying days were just beginning. "Naturally, I won't be taking Harry with me," Snape said. "It's far too dangerous."

Dumbledore smiled and Snape felt a hint of panic enter his chest. "You can't be suggesting I bring him along?"

"No, no Severus." Dumbledore said, laughing mildly. "You will not be taking the boy."

"Good but...who will watch him?"

"I have it all arranged," Dumbledore said. "Teachers will have different shifts watching him during the days, and for the evening and weekends, Molly and Arthur Weasley have agreed to take care of him."

Snape didn't like this too much. How well did he know these Weasley people? They weren't people he knew well at all, but that they had many many children, and that Arthur worked for the Ministry of Magic. They were members of the Order, technically they were safe people. But Snape wasn't feeling happy about it. How well would Harry be looked after?

Apparently some of Snape's reservations showed in his eyes.

"Is there someone else you'd like to look after Harry?" Dumbledore asked kindly.

Snape didn't know how to answer without seeming overprotective or silly. "Perhaps I just feel I do not know the Weasley family well," Snape said slowly, trying not to seem too concerned.

Dumbledore smiled. "I promise you, Severus. He will be fine."

Snape nodded. If Dumbledore said it would be fine, it would be. And yet... "What if the Malfoys also spend some time with him?" Snape asked.

Dumbledore looked hesitant. "Death Eaters, Severus?"

Snape raised an eyebrow at Dumbledore's words. "They have a child his age, Headmaster. They got along well. If I send them an owl and they consent, could it be arranged for Harry to spend some time at the Manor?"

"By all means," Dumbledore answered. "You are the boys protector. I trust your judgment concerning him."

Well that was a frightening thought, and perhaps the most worrisome thing Dumbledore had said all day.

* * *

The next morning came far too early for Severus Snape. He hadn't had the amount of sleep he would've liked, and now he was going to have to pack up Harry's things into the Essentials Kit to take to McGonnagal, who was supposed to be watching him first. Snape was to take Harry and the items to her just before he left. He got diapers, some items for teething, books, toys, and an extra outfit for Harry, plus a little bag of cheerios. Once he was satisfied that everything needed was inside, the Essentials Kit was quite full. As in, it no longer shut. Snape wasn't really bothered by this, the Essentials Kit was Minerva's problem now, not his. He set the bulging bag down on the table and sat, looking at it contemplatively. He sat, lost in thought, waiting for Harry to wake up. He knew that he technically could just get him while asleep and take him to Minerva but Snape wanted to get Harry breakfast first, and to explain to him where he was going. Snape didn't know much about children, but he knew what happened to the heart of a child once they'd been abandoned. He was not about to do that.

The sound of banging from Harry's room brought Snape reluctantly to his feet. Oh the irony. Albus assigned Snape what seemed like an impossible assignment of looking after Harry, and then as soon as Snape became assured that he could take care of the young boy, he was being forced to hand him off while Snape went gallivanting off in search of answers regarding the conquests of the dark side of the wizarding world. Harry held his hands up to Snape to be lifted out of his crib and immediately began talking to Snape in his made up language.

"That's very interesting, Harry," Snape said, after listening for a few moments. "But now I need you to be serious."

Harry regarded Snape with big, solemn eyes.

"Professor Snape has to go away for awhile. He is doing this for a very important reason and he will be back to make sure you are being brought up and educated properly. Do you understand?"

"Nape." Harry answered.

"Harry. Be a good boy. Ok? Professor Snape hasn't raised you to be uncouth or impolite. Are you ready to go?"

Harry made no answer but smiled at Snape and clapped his hands.

With a sigh, Snape got Harry dressed in black pants and the panda shirt. "You get to wear the panda shirt, because you have been a good boy lately. Behave for the others Harry. They aren't as patient as me," he lectured. Even as he said it, he realized probably everybody was more patient with children than him. But that was entirely besides the point.

* * *

It was the longest five seconds of Snape's life...the five seconds he took to detangle Harry's fingers from his robes and hand him over to Minerva. The second Harry was away from Snape, he reached his hands out and began to whine. Snape took Harry's hands and brought his face level with the little boys.

"We have gone over this," Snape said quietly. "Professor Snape needs to go on a trip and while he is gone you need to be brave and polite."

Little tears started to form in Harry's eyes as Snape took his hands away and handed the bag of Harry's things over to Minerva.

"Good heavens, Severus!" she said. "I'll only be watching him for an hour and a half. I hardly think he needs all this!"

"It's better to be prepared," Snape said cooly. Harry was fussing reaching for Snape and wriggling in McGonnagal's arms. "I'll be back, Harry," Snape said, trying not to let Harry's tears bug him. Then to the other teacher he said, "Make sure he doesn't choke on anything."

"I'm not so inept as all that," she sniffed. Then after a moment of thought said, "Good luck, Severus. You're doing all of us an invaluable service."

Snape nodded and turned around, starting down the hall. The second his back was turned Harry burst into tears. Snape walked faster. He couldn't afford to turn around now.

* * *

A/N: THANK YOU for all the comments! If you review again... you will have one happy writer. :) Love you all!


	21. Chapter 21

"Here's Harry," a tired Minerva McGonagall said, handing the screaming boy over to Professor Sprout. "And here are his things. Although I doubt they'll help you much. They didn't do anything for me." She dropped the Essentials Kit at Sprout's feet.

Professor Sprout smiled at the other teacher. "Thank you Minerva." Then to Harry she said, "And we will have you calmed down in just two minutes, won't we dear?"

Harry made no indication in the affirmative, in fact he went right on crying. His panda shirt was soaked with tears, and his eyes were frantic as he searched around. He knew Napey had to be somewhere nearby. Nape never left him all alone for a long time.

"I wouldn't count on it," McGonagall said, then with a tight smile added, "Good luck. I don't envy you the next two hours."

She turned and headed in the opposite direction taking long, slow deep breaths, glad her shift for the day was over.

* * *

Snape quickly made his way across the Hogwart's grounds, and once far enough away from the castle he apparated. He appeared in a back alleyway to remain inconspicuous, but quickly got out onto the street. He was not in a good part of town, but this was to be expected. He was not alone on the street. A woman, clutching her shawl around her, hurried down the opposite side of the road, head bent down. Further up the street there was a group of teenage boys sitting on the edge of the pavement. Snape looked around to locate the house. Naturally, it was protected with spells to make it harder to detect but Snape was a master at breaking past this type of spell, especially because he knew the precise methods Death Eaters used to hide their meeting places. Once he'd gotten past a couple enchantments he strode purposefully towards the house. It was two stories tall, made of dark red and brown brick. Everything about it looked very square and no-nonsense. Snape fingered his wand from within his cloak and entered the house.

The door hinges creaked in process as he made his way inside, but was quiet enough as Snape shut it. He looked around him, pulling his wand out and extending it in front of him. He wondered whether there would actually be Death Eaters here now. It was just morning after all. What if they only met at night? Were people staying here or just using it as a type of headquarters? The low murmur of voices floating through the corridor answered Snape's questions. He quickened his pace a bit, but not to the point where he would seem rushed. He had to appear comfortable in this situation, he knew. Acting nervous would defeat the whole purpose of the mission. He was there to act like a Death Eater, to belong to this group and learn what they were planning. He replaced his wand in his cloak but kept his hand on it, ready to draw it in a second.

He came to a room with no windows, and a long narrow table with eleven people seated around it. There was no door, just an archway and Snape paused in it, waiting for the others to notice him. He leaned slightly against the archway, appearing relaxed and like he had been there all along, but despite his appearance his muscles were tensed and he was ready to leap in any direction he had to, if it were to become necessary. It didn't take long for his to be noticed.

"Severus Snape?" said the man sitting at the head of the table. This was a man Snape knew, they had been at Hogwarts at the same time.

"Good day, Amycus," Snape said with a small nod.

He knew almost everyone present, and was surprised so many of them were still free. The Carrows, Redwin Crabbe, Furgis Goyle, and two women who had both been at Hogwarts when Snape had been there, Mathilde Farrel and her sister Risa. Snape also noted with distaste that there were three werewolves at the table. The remaining two individuals were people Snape had never before seen. They had probably been on the outer circle during Voldemort's conquests.

"Who's this now?" said one of them, a short, stocky man with a crew cut and extremely thick eyebrows.

Snape strode into the room. "Severus Snape," he said, acknowledging the man with a small nod.

"And how did you find us?" he asked.

"Calm down, Irigo," said Mathilde. "Severus is a friend." The way she sound friend was haunting. Her tone became quiet and slow, almost reverent. "He was one of the Dark Lord's most trusted."

"Then you'll be interested in what we're discussing," Irigo said. "Please. Take a seat,"

Severus slid the chair back from the table and sat.

* * *

No one in the Great Hall was very happy that night. Harry made sure of that. It didn't matter one bit who held him or what they tried to feed him, he wriggled and squirmed and cried incessantly. Flitwick pressed a hand over one tiny ear.

"Does he not stop?" he asked in disbelief.

"No," McGonnagal responded. "And you should feel lucky. He slept the entire time you were supposed to watch him."

Finally Dumbledore turned to Professor Sinistra who was pleading with the boy to calm down and said, "Just set him down. It is making him agitated to be held by people he doesn't know."

Harry was set down immediately and Harry crawled from where he was set down to sit under the table. Now that he was free he no longer wailed, but tears of fright and confusion still rolled down his face. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and began to suck on them. He hoped that this would help Nape come back faster. Nape always knew when he sucked on his fingers. He would come in and say, "Now Harry. That is hardly a proper way to treat your fingers. Remove them from your mouth." Of course Harry didn't know what any of that meant. He just wanted Nape to catch him and make him stop. He just wanted him to come back. He rested his head on the cool stone floor under the table and hoped that Snape would be there soon.

A/N: Poor little Harry. :( I know this was a shorty but I'll update soon. Reviewsy review. :)


	22. Chapter 22

Snape was tired. The afternoon had been long, but interesting. The Death Eaters were certainly up to something, but they still seemed to be guarded with what they said. He expected this. There had been those who had questioned his loyalty because of his position at Hogwarts. Most bought his story about being installed there as a spy, but there were still those with their reservations. These were the people Snape had to be most wary of.

One such person was Risa Farrel. She and Mathilde had very different opinions of him. During the course of the afternoon Risa had shushed her sister no less than five times, and every time afterwords she cast a dark look at Severus.

Now it was night and Snape began to contemplate all he had heard. He was staying in the house, so were the rest of the group aside from the werewolves. Severus was glad for that much, he didn't like the creatures to begin with, they put him on edge, and these particular three seemed especially unappealing. He was in a small room by himself, on the second story of the house. The room in which he was staying had no unnecessary furnishings, much like the rest of the house. The bed was rather small and had no headboard or footrest, just four, tall, completely square poles pointing towards the ceiling at the corners of the bed. The sheets were white and smelled faintly like mothballs, and the blanket on top was gray, and a bit scratchy.

Snape sat on the bed and made a mental list of everything he'd discovered thus far. One, the Death Eaters were still active. Two, they had access to a journal which had been kept by Bellatrix LeStrange. This surprised Snape, he'd never thought of her as the journal-keeping type. However, he suspected that the contents of the journal were dangerous, as the journal was locked and protected with many spells. Most of the Death Eaters at the table that afternoon had been sure that the correct course of action was to do everything in their power to get it open and read it. They believed that some sorts of secrets to bringing Voldemort back would be found there, because Bellatrix had always been so devoted to the Dark Lord. Snape was of the opinion that she wouldn't know of any such things, but he kept this opinion to himself. The truth was, he wanted to find out what was in the journal, because whether it contained secrets concerning the Dark Lord or not, it was sure to be dangerous. Snape wanted to evaluate it, and if possible, destroy it.

The third thing Snape had found which he knew would be of interest to Dumbledore was that the werewolves were planning on terrorizing muggles. The Death Eaters had split opinions on whether that was the best idea at the current time. Some were in favor, others against, and some wanted nothing more than to join the werewolves and do all they could to lessen the muggle population.

Snape was getting a headache. He rested his head in his hands and slowly massaged his temples. All he could do now was wait and do everything in his power to find out what was truly going on. Dumbledore had warned him not to contact him, until he was first contacted by either Albus himself, or someone else from the Order. He didn't want to risk jeopardizing this mission. Knowing there was nothing he could do that night, Severus laid down on the bed. The pillow smelled...not good. Snape turned his head and threw the pillow off the bed and onto the floor. It smelled the way Harry smelled when his stomach wasn't handling well what was fed to him. Not pleasant. Snape closed his eyes and tried to sleep, forcing himself not to strain to hear Harry's breathing in the next room. Because Harry wasn't there.

* * *

Molly Weasley had picked Harry up from off the floor, giving Dumbledore a sharp look.

"Is there a reason Harry is sleeping under the table?" she had asked.

"It's where he cried the least," Dumbledore said with an apologetic smile.

The sleeping boy stirred slightly in Molly's arms. "Poor thing," she said. "He's probably so confused. This will be good for him though," she added thoughtfully. "It isn't healthy for a child to be anti-social. This will help him learn,"

Dumbledore nodded and handed Arthur the diaper bag with Harry's things, since Molly's arms were full. "Thank you for caring for him tonight," Dumbledore said. "I trust I'll be seeing you tomorrow morning."

Molly nodded. "We'll bring him back around lunch time," she said. Then she and Arthur turned and left the Great Hall, and soon they were headed home to the Burrow.

* * *

"Loo-loo." said a voice. Harry opened his eyes in irritation. Who was talking to him when he was trying to sleep? He had had a very hard day. Sitting up, his eyes widened as he saw that he was in a crib but it was not his own! Oh no! It was not near so pretty as his, and not only that but there was another person in it!

"Loo-la. Bobo." said Ron, staring at Harry. Harry stuck his lip out. He didn't know who this person was and he didn't want to share a crib. He looked around for someone to help him, but there wasn't anyone else in the room. Suddenly the little red-headed boy tapped Harry and looked at him insistently. Harry turned back to look at him and the little boy placed a hand on his own head. "Won." he said.

Harry put his hand on his head too. "Pot."

* * *

The next morning Harry and Ron were sitting on the floor and Ron was showing Harry his toys. Harry looked at them but did not play. He just sat and held onto his stuffed owl and watched as Ron crawled around and waved blocks and plastic toy wands in the air. Molly Weasley was sitting in a brown rocking chair reading the Daily Prophet and every couple minutes she would look up from over the paper to make sure the babies were fine. On another chair across the room a blanket was knitting itself. Harry looked at the clicking needles in interest and crawled over. As he reached his hand up to try and grab the half-completed sweater Molly shook her head.

"Don't touch that, Harry," she said. He obediently pulled his hand back and sat, trying to figure out where he was and what was going on.

It was then that two more people toddled into the room. Harry was very confused. These people were the same! They were the same height, had matching hair color, and matching facial features. The only thing that was different was the color of their shirts.

"Uh-oh!" he said, pointing to them, and looking worriedly to Molly, who he knew was the person in charge.

"Good morning, Fred. Good morning, George." Molly said, standing up and walking over to them to give them a hug.

Fred pointed at Harry and asked, "Who's that, Mum?"

"That's Harry," she replied. "We're going to be babysitting him some for the next few days."

"Sitting?" George said, sounding delighted. "We can sit on the baby?"

"Can we sit on Ron too?" Fred asked, eagerly, tugging on his mother's hand.

"I meant to say we'd be tending," Molly corrected. "You cannot sit on either of them."

Fred smiled and knelt down in front of Harry. "Hi baby." he said. "Let's play."

Harry shook his head and crawled away as fast as his little hands and knees could carry him.

* * *

A/N: You know the drill. Just review. It makes me write more. :)


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: Bad news. After today I will have no computer access for the rest of the week, until Saturday. BUT if I get enough reviews I will post again before Sunday. :) Here we go!

* * *

Snape needed to know what was inside Bellatrix's journal. Whether it was secrets, spells, or just Bellatrix's crazed ramblings, Snape needed to find out. The journal could provide very dangerous and very valuable information, depending on whose hands it fell into. Those hands needed to be his. He needed to figure out what was going on.

This was his goal as Snape made his way down the narrow, dimly lit staircase. He entered the room where the Death Eaters had been gathered the day before and gave them all a small nod.

Risa, the suspicious Farrel sister, narrowed her eyes and murmured, "Morning, Severus," in his direction, watching him as though waiting for him to be something which would prove her suspicions were correct.

Snape raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't make any other form of acknowledgment and sat down, next to Amycus Carrow.

In the middle of the table lay Bellatrix's journal. It looked harmless enough; an ordinary book made of black leather. A strap came from the back to the front of the journey, and was snapped shut, holding the book closed. However, there was much more to the journal than the eye could readily perceive. As soon as someone came within inches of the journal, electricity began to snap and crack around it, sending out sparks to attack the invader until they withdrew. Alecto Carrow had learned this the hard way. She'd tried opening the journal the day before, and her hand was now blackened and singed, and wrapped in bandages. She was regarding the journal warily, as though afraid it was going to shock her again.

One thing Snape truly appreciated about the Death Eaters: very little time was wasted with unnecessary pleasantries. Within seconds of his arrival, the conversation turned to the object in question. There was no discussion on how anyone slept, or how anybody felt about the weather that day. Had Snape been asked how he'd slept he would have had the embarrassing answer, "I missed my one year old charge so much, I hardly shut my eyes." So Snape was glad he hadn't been asked. In fact he didn't even ask himself how he slept, because he didn't want to give that answer to anybody, and that included him.

"So. There has to be some way to open it." Crabbe said, bending down closer to the table as though that would give him a better angle from which to discover the journal's secrets.

"How many enchantments do you think that thing has?" Goyle asked, eyebrows knitting together as he posed the question.

"Severus, you knew Bellatrix well, didn't you?" said Amycus. "How protected do you think this journal would be?"

"I had no idea that Bellatrix kept any sort of diary," Snape said dryly, not looking at anyone, even though he was aware all eyes were on him. "However, Bellatrix never believed in any sort of "less is more" principle." He smiled wryly to himself as he thought about how over the top Bellatrix was- she never just did a job, she had to do it three or four times. He wasn't sure if she was just melodramatic or extremely paranoid.

"So there's more than the lytning?" Alecto said nervously, referring to the magical sparks the journal emitted.

"I have no way of knowing for sure," Snape responded. "But I highly doubt that there are less than three enchantments binding that book shut. It could be very, very dangerous to open."

"Maybe," a voice said from across the table. "It just needs to be opened by someone a little stronger."

The speaker was one of the three werewolves, the only female.

Alecto's face flushed and she sniffed haughtily. "If you want to try opening that thing, Sharra, be my guest."

The werewolf grinned, revealing her teeth which resembled fangs, no matter the time of month. She slowly reached across the table, eyes glinting, as if daring someone to stop her from touching the journal.

Snape thought about telling her it wasn't the wisest idea, but realized that by watching her reaction he would be able to tell more about what was going on with that journal, and so he held his peace.

As Sharra's hand touched the book, she let out a scream which could only be described as a howl. The eyes of the Death Eaters mostly watched her face as it contorted with pain, but Snape watched the journal, and Sharra's hand. He nodded as he realized what was going on. He might be able to figure this out. Only one other person made any sound and that was Alecto. She was laughing.

* * *

It had not been a good day for Harry. Those little red haired boys were scary to him, Won was ok, but the other little boys had chased him around until he finally resorted to hiding under the table. He felt very relieved when Molly picked him up and gave him a strange look.

"You certainly spend a lot of time under tables, young man," she said.

When they got back to Hogwarts, Albus took Harry from Molly's arms and thanked her.

"Do you need us to watch him again tonight?" Molly asked.

"Actually, he has other arrangements for tonight. We'll be in touch Molly," Dumbledore said. Harry was curious by Dumbledore's beard and he put his hand in it and gasped when he realized his hand was all gone. Then he squealed when he took it out again. Dumbledore smiled and carried Harry inside.

They spent the rest of the afternoon up in Dumbledore's office. Harry sat quietly and watched the portraits of previous headmasters. Whenever one spoke to him he just scowled and looked away. He was quiet until about six pm when Dumbledore stood from his desk and told Harry they were going on a little trip.

"Papa Severus told me you made a friend the other day," Dumbledore said, smiling to himself at his use of "papa", hoping that it would catch on. That would be fun to watch.

Soon Harry and Dumbledore, with Essentials Kit over his shoulder, arrived at Malfoy Manor. Harry's heartbeat, which had been racing the entire time they traveled, began to slow a bit. They'd been here before.

When Narcissa Malfoy answered the door, she smiled surprised to see Snape there. She'd been expecting Harry, but didn't know who was bringing him.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling. "Severus has been detained, and asked if I could drop Harry off."

"That's fine," Narcissa said, glad it wasn't Lucius who had come to the door. Lucius would not have been able to resist making some snide remark in the direction of the old man. For some reason, Lucius had a bit of a problem with him. Narcissa took Harry from Dumbledore, and Harry looked around eagerly for his small blonde friend.

"We will send someone from the school over to get him," Dumbledore said. "Tomorrow around eleven? Is that alright, Mrs. Malfoy?"

She nodded and gave him a slight smile. No matter how she felt about anyone, Narcissa was going to be polite. Her strict pureblood upbringing wouldn't allow for anything less. Dumbledore tipped his head to her and turned to go. Narcissa shut the door and carried Harry up the stairs, to Draco's large playroom where he was already playing.

As they walked they passed a large mirror and Narcissa couldn't help but notice how striking the pair of them were, with his jet black hair and her almost white-blond. Harry gasped at the mirror and pointed.

"Is that Baby Harry?" Narcissa asked, smiling. Draco loved the mirror. He had three in his room alone, because he found his reflection incredible.

Harry nodded emphatically. "Pot!" he declared. Narcissa shook her head, amused and carried Harry into the play room.

Draco smiled and waved as Harry entered the room. Narcissa set Harry down on the floor to play with Draco, then went to sit in the elaborate, high backed rocking chair in the room. For awhile she sat there contentedly, watching the little boys build block towers, but after awhile she fell asleep.

Draco smiled mischievously at Harry, who smiled back and the boys crawled out of the room.


	24. Chapter 24

Draco led the way down the hallway, moving along quickly on hands and knees, and looking back every so often to make sure Harry was still behind him. Each time Draco looked back Harry would smile and lift one hand to wave hello at him, like it was some sort of new game.

Draco smiled as he found the door to his parents' bedroom partially open. He crawled inside and squealed with excitement. He had never gotten to go in there without Mama and Papa before. Harry oohed as he glimpsed the massive bed, covered with light green blankets, embroidered with silver thread, and mounds and mounds of pillows. All he needed now was Napey to lift him up and put him on that big, soft play area.

Soon enough though, Harry was distracted as Draco patted the ground beside him. "Pot, here," Draco said, giggling.

Harry crawled over and sat beside Draco. Draco was sitting next to a tall, dark-wood dresser. It took a bit of time to figure out, but eventually Draco was able to grasp the brass handle and pulled the bottom drawer open. He smiled as the sight of his papa's undies and socks greeted him. He grabbed an armful and put them in his lap. Then he took a pair of boxer length shorts and put them on Harry's head like a crown, the legs sticking up in the air. Harry giggled and clapped excitedly. He grabbed some garments from the drawer and threw them into the center of the room. He looked to Draco for judgement, Napey said no throwing, but Draco found this new game greatly amusing. Before long the bottom drawer was empty, and the Malfoy's immaculately decorated room was covered in Mr. Malfoy's underthings. Once all the clothes in reach were deposited around the room, Draco decided it was time for a new adventure.  
"Pot!" he said, to get the other boy's attention. Then he headed for the door to go off on another adventure. Harry followed excitedly, boxer shorts still on his head.

* * *

By dinner Snape was feeling very accomplished. After long hours of arguing and the remaining two werewolves being shocked, believing they could withstand the spells better than Sharra had. Sharra had laughed almost maniacally when they had screamed as much as she had after coming in contact with the bewitched journal.

Finally Amycus had suggested no one touch it until Snape had further analyzed it. With Snape's knowledge of the inner circle of Voldemort's Death Eaters, potions, dark objects, and enchantments he was the most qualified to deal with such an object. He planned on taking the journal up to his room after dinner that night. The other Death Eaters were just going to sit around and argue more, and the sooner Snape figured out what secrets the journal held, the sooner he would be able to get back to what he now considered his "normal life", which meant the life in which Harry was included.

Alecto had cooked for them that night, and sadly the food appeared less than appetizing. The odor which had wafted from the kitchen wasn't promising either. Some of the Death Eaters groaned and muttered complaints, but Snape ate the grey, unidentifiable soup without expression or comment. He had refined tastes, but had grown up eating what was given him and had learned that griping about it was the worst possible solution. Once his plate was clean, he stood.

"If you'll excuse me," he said. "I have work to do." With a flick of his wand the journal was levitating above the table. The book fought the enchantment, and wiggled slightly in the air, but Snape kept it afloat, and thus transported it out of the room, up the stairs, and into the small bedchamber where he'd spent the previous night. Setting the book down, he cleared his mind of any other worries or distractions and began to work.

* * *

Narcissa awoke with a start. She guiltily shook her head as though she'd never been asleep. She looked around the room, and didn't spot the boys. She stood up quickly and turned around, searching every corner. They had gone out. Narcissa felt her pulse quicken. She'd never lost Draco before. How had she lost her own child? In her own home? She left the room quickly and walked through the corridor. She had no idea which room the little boys might be in. The House Elves always left the doors open in the late afternoon, to allow the rooms to air before the evening came. They could be almost anywhere.

"Draco!" she called, as she moved through the corridor. "Sweetheart?" she peered into the first room, but it didn't look like the little boys had been there.

"Harry?" she said, peeking into the next room. "Draco?"

This room had definitely seen the babies. This was the room where Narcissa had embroidered prior to having Draco. There were threads all over the room, crisscrossing back and forth and tangled up in one another. But the little boys were nowhere to be seen.

After checking a couple more rooms with no luck Narcissa began to feel too frantic. Then she heard the door downstairs open. Only barely managing not to trip, hair flying loose from the french twist it had been pulled into, Narcissa rushed down the stairs.

Lucius, hanging up his coat, looked at her with his eyes full of amusement. "Why hello dear," he said cooly. "You haven't greeted me home this enthusiastically since Draco was born."

"I lost him!" Narcissa said, holding onto Lucius' arms. "I lost the boys! I fell asleep and now they are somewhere loose in the house!"

Lucius' light eyes lost their humor and he nodded. "Well I'm sure they're upstairs somewhere." he said logically. They looked together in the first two rooms in the long hallway upstairs, and then into their own room.

At the sight of Lucius' underthings everywhere, draped over chairs, the bed, and all over the floor, Narcissa began to giggle, despite her worries. Lucius found the situation a bit less funny. "Well." he said, not sure what else to say. "That's fun."

A call from down the hallways made him turn around. "Papa!"

Lucius smiled ruefully at his small son, who was peeking out from one of the rooms further down the corridor. "You've made a mess of my room, son," Lucius said seriously, walking toward the little boy.

Draco giggled and crawled back into the room from which he had emerged. Breathing a sigh of relief, Narcissa followed her husband down the hall.

Upon entering the room, they say Draco giggling, sucking on the fingers of own of his hands, and with his other hand he pointed at Harry, who was fast asleep, with his head on his arm.

"Ahem," Lucius said, retrieving the shorts from Harry's head. Narcissa was just happy they had found the boys. She picked up Harry, and Lucius picked up Draco, and they made their way downstairs for dinner.

A/N: this made me happy to write. If it made you happy to read...REVIEW! (bet you saw that one coming.)


	25. Chapter 25

Dinner at the Malfoy house had always been a quiet affair, even as a baby Draco seemed to know that when they were eating in the "polite room", he needed to not throw things and be on his best behavior. However, when provided with a playmate, Draco seemed to forget all of his etiquette. Seated in a booster seat next to Harry, the two boys giggled most of the meal. More food ended up in their hair than in either of their mouths. Lucius and Narcissa smiled at the babies as they made a mess of one another, and the moment the meal was ended, Narcissa knew it was time to give the little boys a bath. Picking up Draco, she grimaced at the mashed potatoes in his hair. The potatoes in Harry's hair looked even worse, but that partly because Harry had so much hair, and the light colored potatoes were very visible in his dark locks. Lucius followed Narcissa up the stairs, to the bathroom where they set to the task of cleaning up the little boys.

When they emerged from the water, rid of all the food they'd accumulated all over themselves through the meal, the little boys were put into their pajamas and carried into Draco's room. Narcissa sat down on the rocking chair and seated both little boys on the chair with her. Then she sang to them and rocked back and forth. Draco shut his eyes and snuggled against his mother's side, moving his little hand on her tummy, opening it and shutting it happily as she sang. Harry looked up at Narcissa with his eyes wide, watching her as she looked down on them, smiling and singing to them softly. Harry didn't know what the sounds she was making meant but he liked them. He wanted Napey to make those sounds for him. When Narcissa stood to put Draco in the crib, he was asleep and didn't stir when she set him down. She left Harry sitting on the big chair, and once Draco was laid down, she returned and picked up Harry. Draco had a separate crib in her bedroom, for when he was fussy, which they had moved into Draco's room for Harry to sleep in. She laid him down and Harry sat up and just looked at her.

"Go to sleep, Harry," Narcissa said, wondering what Severus did to get him to relax. Harry had been happy the entire time he'd been at her home, but he looked nervous now. She put the stuffed owl in his crib with him and Harry hugged the stuffed animal against his body. When she left the room, he was still sitting up and looking around. She hoped he'd calm down soon, and go to sleep.

* * *

Severus was still working when the sun came up the next morning. He hadn't intended to work through the whole night, but had become engulfed in the riddle of opening the journal. He knew he'd made it past the first series of spells which included the lytning, and a charm which caused people to become confused and lose interest in the journal, as well as an enchantment which simply helped compound the pain caused by the shocks. Now Snape could touch the book without it causing him physical pain, if he cast the right spells on his own hands first. However, the cover still did not budge when he tried to pry it open. He knew he hadn't gotten past all the enchantments either, because each time he came in contact with the book a high pitched, flat toned note split through his head, making it hard to concentrate or even think at all. He carried the journal downstairs to where the other Death Eaters were already seated.

"You look awful," sniggered Sharra, glancing at Snape's gaunt, drawn face.

Snape raised and eyebrow and sat heavily, setting the book down on the table.

Alecto, noticing he'd been holding the book in hand, smiled. "Did you do it Severus? Did you open it?" she asked eagerly.

"No," Snape replied. "I have found a way to get past a few of the first protecting enchantments. I have not, as yet, gotten it open completely."

"Oh? Why?" Goyle asked.

"It seems to be sealed shut, I'm not sure how yet. It also is being protected by a spell of Bellatrix's own devising."

Crabbe winced. He did not know Bellatrix well, but he knew that her spells never were pleasant.

"What does it do?" Redglor Spinetree, the thinner of the two male werewolves, asked.

"Everytime you come in contact with anything being affected by the spell, your concentration will be broken by what sounds like an extremely high pitched scream." Snape said, explaining the spell as best as he could.

"And? Is it painful?" Sharra questioned, looking at the journal with suspicion.

"Quite. In prolonged doses it is also very dangerous," Snape said, trying not to think about the times he had witnessed its use.

"In what way?" this from Mathilde.

"It causes you to lose your mind," Severus answered. The spell had been inspired by the use of the Cruciatus Curse. It was just the way Bellatrix's mind worked.

The Death Eaters around the table regarded the book warily.

"Severus," Amycus began. "We are all leaving day after tomorrow. To go home. Do you think you'll have the journal figured out by then?"

Snape looked thoughtful. "There's no way to say," he said, after a moment's reflection. "Bellatrix's curse has made it difficult for me to penetrate to the next layer of spells. This must be solved before I can do anything else."

"Well," Amycus said. "Continue working on it. If you have not figured it out before we leave then take it with you and continue your study. Would this be possible?"

Snape nodded.

Suddenly Risa Farrell shut Amycus an angry glare and exploded, "You want Severus Snape to take this object back to Hogwarts? Back to _Dumbledore_?"

Amycus looked startled. "I doubt Severus would hand such an important Death Eater object over," he said.

"And we are so sure of his loyalties how? How?" Risa said. This was the first time she had truly been vocal about her suspicious, but they'd been clear the whole time.

"We've known him a long time," Mathilde said. "He's explained his position already."

"I agree," Crabbe said.

"Well I do not intend on letting him leave here with that journal in his possession!" Risa said, rising from the table.

"We don't even know if it will come to that," Alecto said, shaking her head at Risa. "He may solve it before its time for us to leave!"

"Then again, he may not." Amycus said thoughtfully. "Let's vote on it. Is there anyone else opposed to letting Snape continue his study of the journal, even if that's after we are through here for a time?"

No one else said anything. The werewolves exchanged glances. None of them really knew Snape, but neither did they feel he was untrustworthy.

Risa still stood, breathing hard and looking defiant.

Through all of this Snape sat, looking unconcerned, and gazing at the faces of those seated around the table. His eyes showed nothing but calm, almost indifference. However, he knew things would be complicated if he had to wait until the Death Eaters assembled again to work. Mostly, he didn't want the journal in their possession until that time, lest they figure out a way to open it in the time they had it.

When no one spoke for several seconds Amycus nodded. "It looks like you are alone Risa. Snape will be continuing work, should it be necessary,"

Risa drew her wand.

A/N: I'll post again soon! What did you think of this chapter? Loves to all of you! and don't worry, Snape and Harry will be reunited soon enough.


	26. Chapter 26

"You think this wise, Risa?" Snape asked cooly, his dark eyes staring into the face of the woman across the table.  
Risa looked nowhere near so calm. Her eyes darted back and forth to the faces of those sitting around her. Some looked shocked, others indifferent. Many looked interested, and the werewolves had even leaned forward in reaction to this new development. The two faces which bothered Risa most however, were the faces of Severus Snape and Mathilde. Snape's demeanor betrayed no fear. He had not even risen from his chair in response to her threat. Mathilde, however, looked on the verge of tears. Her eyes were filled with a look Risa could only classify as panic.

"I...I think it necessary!" Risa responded to Snape's query, voice shaking. Her arms trembled along with her voice, but while her wand was unsteady it remained focused straight at Snape's chest.

"What have I done to merit this distrust?" Snape said, trying to talk Risa out of her foolish intentions. He knew that at the precise moment he could mutter an incantation and have her unarmed. No, he could simply think the incantation and have his wand in his hand in a matter of seconds. However, embarrassing the witch wasn't going to alleviate the problem, and neither was fighting.

"What have you done to earn any trust either?" was Risa's only retort.

Mathilde shook her head fervently. "Risa," she implored. "Don't..."

Risa shot her sister a look, her eyes flashing. "Don't you see it Matty?" she cried. "I know he isn't truly one of us, and he is NOT going to take that book anywhere!" her voice rose in volume and shrillness as she spoke, and once she'd made this declaration she whirled back on Snape.

"Now I'm warning you," she growled. "I'm giving you a fair chance to turn over the book or draw your wand, but I see right through your charade! You're nothing but Dumbledore's pet!"

"Don't be foolish." Though unafraid, Snape was becoming extremely annoyed, and each word was punctuated with an underlying iciness, warning the witch that he wasn't happy with her.

"Stupefy!"

Snape flicked out his wand, and nonverbally disarmed her before her spell could have any affect. Her wand fell to the table and rolled towards Snape, who picked it up.

"Hand it over," Risa growled.

"That's enough!" Amycus said, standing up. "Risa, you are being asked to leave."

"No," Snape interrupted, voice still even and flat. "If you don't mind, I think it would be more prudent if I left. Clearly the rest of you have no objection to my keeping of the book until the next time we meet. It will be easier to get it done in my own space."

"No!" Risa cried out.

"Oh sit down!" Mathilde pleaded, pulling her sister to the chair.

"You're both pathetic," Alecto sneered in their direction.

Amycus shot Alecto a look then nodded at Snape. "Go."

Snape rose from the table, taking the diary with him. He inclined his head to the table of Death Eaters in parting, then was headed out the door and into the afternoon sunlight.

* * *

It had been a very, very long night for Narcissa Malfoy. She'd gone to check on the boys before going to bed and had found Harry sitting up in his crib, gazing around warily. His face was wet with tears, some still glistening in his eyes. When he saw Narcissa he reached up one arm, the other clutching the owl, and made whining sounds.

"What Harry?" Narcissa said, bending over him. "What do you need?"

"Want Nape..." Harry whispered.

Narcissa picked him up and took him to the rocker, and rocked him back and forth. She'd hoped he'd fall asleep, but the boy didn't. He sat there quietly with his face buried in the owl's back. After half an hour Narcissa had put him back in the crib. The moment she set him down he began crying again.

"Cissa?" Lucius inquired, sticking his head in. "Are you coming?"

"Yes," she replied, casting a worried look an Harry. She straightened up and left the room, hoping that Harry would fall asleep quickly.

* * *

She'd only been in bed an hour when Narcissa heard crying coming from Draco's room. Upon entering the room she picked up her crying son and bounced him. Casting a look over at Harry's crib she noted that the little boy was still sitting up and looking around.

"Bring Nape?" he asked hopefully.

"No, Harry. Severus isn't back yet. Please go to sleep."

Harry's heartbeat accelerated as a terrible thought occurred to him. What if Napey wasn't coming back? Harry dropped the owl and pulled himself to a standing position using the rail of the crib.

"Nape!" he shouted. "Nape!" Maybe if Nape heard him, he would remember about him and come get him. Tears began to run down his cheeks again as he continued to call for his guardian.

Draco had stopped crying and was staring at Harry. "Sad." he said, pointing at him.

"Shh, Draco. Go to sleep." Narcissa said, laying Draco back down in his crib.

Narcissa picked Harry up again and once more moved to the rocker. There she spent half the night trying to sooth the distraught boy who wanted nothing more than for the potions master to come and get him.

* * *

It was lunchtime and Draco and Harry were sitting on the floor playing when there was a knock at the door. Dobby went to answer the door, and from the kitchen Narcissa heard the House elf say, "Come in sir! Dobby will lead you to the kitchen."

Within moments Dobby had entered the room and right behind him came Severus Snape.

"NAPE!" Harry shouted. He pushed himself up to standing and took one wobbly step, trying to get to Snape, before falling down.

Snape crossed the room in four quick strides, cape flowing behind him, and scooped Harry up in his arms.

"Have you been behaving, Harry?" he asked.

"Love Nape, love Nape, love Nape!" Harry declared burrowing his face in Snape's shoulder.

Narcissa smiled at the pair and said, "I think that little one's ready to go home."

"Thank you, Narcissa," Snape said, giving her a rare, genuine smile. "I think so too. We'll be in touch."

A/N: I hope I haven't lost my loyal fanbase by taking so long to update! Between school and work life got crazy, but I promise not to leave for so long again! Let me know what you think! I'm just so excited they are back together!


	27. Chapter 27

Although Snape was pleased, perhaps even _quite_ pleased, that Harry had missed him and was glad to see him again, he was beginning to wonder if Harry was ever going to let him have a moment's peace again. Once they'd returned to Snape's quarters in the Hogwarts dungeons Snape had hoped Harry would release the handfuls of robes he had clutched onto the whole train ride home.

"Would you mind releasing me, Harry?" Snape asked.

Harry giggled and shook his head.

"Then I suppose it's time for another lesson in politeness. This one will be especially important when you get older and have to start dealing with women, but I think you need to learn it now." Snape sat down on the couch with Harry on his lap and continued his lecture. "It is not appropriate, nor socially acceptable to hold onto clothing when the wearer has asked you to let go. You don't want to earn yourself a slap in the future do you?"

Harry shook his head again, but didn't let go of Snape's clothes. Snape sighed and leaned back against the cushions of the couch. He was exhausted. He'd hardly slept the past few nights, between worrying over Harry and examining the bewildering diary of Bellatrix Lestrange. He shut his eyes and began to relax, but Harry would have none of it.

"Bop!" Harry said, knocking his head against Snape's chest. "Bop!"

"No, Harry," Snape said tiredly, eyes still closed. "No Bop. It's nap time."

Harry giggled and bopped him again.

"Harry, I just don't have another lecture in me right now. Stop bopping." Never before had Snape thought he would have to say he didn't have the energy to give another lecture.

"Bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop!" Harry squealed with excitement, headbutting Snape with each bop.

Snape finally opened his eyes reluctantly and looked into the bright green, excited eyes of the tiny boy on his lap. Harry's eyes widened and he smiled innocently and whispered, "Bop" again.

All this bopping was giving Snape a good idea for a new curse, which would possibly be even more effective than the Cruciatus at driving people crazy- he could call it Boppitus.

"Harry," Snape said, all his inflection and sarcasm void from his voice. "Professor Snape is too tired to carry on with this bop nonsense any longer. Professor Snape needs to sleep, and you can either sleep here on the couch by me, or I can go put you in your crib, but the bopping must stop."

"Bop?" said Harry with a smile.

"No, no bop." Snape closed his eyes again settled back into the couch. All was quiet for a minute or two and Snape began to smile to himself, thinking how accomplished he was at teaching Harry right from wrong, when suddenly and without warning-

"BOP!"

Snape grunted as Harry's head collided with his chest again. "That's that," Snape said, standing up with Harry in his arms, Harry still clutching to Snape's robes. "You've made a bad choice, and you need to spend some time in quiet recollection thinking about how we don't bop Professor Snape when he's sleeping."

Snape pushed the door to Harry's room open with his foot and entered.

Harry began to make happy "Eee!" sounds when he saw his own crib, and dresser, and toy box. He let go of one handful of robes and began to excitedly point at all his things, which he'd missed for the past few days.

"Alright Harry," Snape said, prying Harry's fingers loose from his robe and setting him down in his crib. "Nap time."

The happy sounds ceased and the smile fell from Harry's face as he stared at Snape in confusion. He cocked his head and reached an arm towards Snape, opening and closing his fist.

"No, Harry, Professor Snape is not going to pick you up right now. We are both going to take a nap and become refreshed and reinvigorated. Until then I don't have the energy to put up with these antics."

Harry stuck his bottom lip and put his head down, his chin touching his chest.

"Have a nice rest," Snape said, then walked out of the room.

The second Snape's back was turned Harry's heart began to beat rapidly and once he was out of the room Harry felt complete panic overtake him. Snape had left him again!

"Nape!" Harry called. "Nape!"

* * *

It was the ultimate struggle, the battle of wills, and Snape truly did not want to lose to a baby. He laid on his bed in the room next to Harry's, his eyes shut firmly. Harry could shout if he wanted, that was his prerogative, but it didn't have to interrupt Snape's nap. The cry of "Nape!" floated through to Snape's room once more. He groaned and rolled over. His feet hit the floor. The battle was lost.

Snape walked into Harry's room to find the little boy tear streaked and laying on his belly. His face was red and his nose was running, and he looked utterly pathetic and completely helpless.

"I'm sorry," Snape said, picking Harry up. Harry continued to cry, grabbing Snape's hair in one hand and putting it on his face.

"Nape," the little boy whined.

"I know, I didn't mean to leave you again," Snape said. He carried Harry into his room and sat down on the bed. Harry began to quiet down, letting go of Snape's hair and putting his thumb in his mouth. Snape laid Harry down on his back, his head just beneath the pillow on the left side of the bed. Then Snape cast a quick spell, making a force field around the bed, so Harry wouldn't fall off. Within minutes both were asleep, Snape with one hand protectively on Harry's stomach, and Harry with one hand in his mouth and the other hand clutching one of Snape's fingers.

A/N: So..it's short and not much really happened but I wanted to get back into their characters and give you guys a quick update to let you know how much I appreciated all your reviews for the last chapter! Keep reviewing and reading and I'll post again soon!


	28. Chapter 28

A/N: The story liveeees! I hope you haven't all grown too impatient with me.

As the next couple days passed, Snape and Harry fell back into their normal routines. Harry was becoming quite the crawler and Snape was realizing more and more his inability to effectively discipline the tiny boy. The exception came early one morning when Snape and Harry were in the living room, playing with blocks. Snape sat with his back against the couch, mentally going through the contents of his potions cupboard to assess whether or not he needed to restock anything and keeping an eye on Harry.

Just as Snape had come to the decision that, yes, he would need to get some more powdered wormwood soon if he was going to assign the Reflexis potion to the next day's fourth years, a block hit him in the chest.

"Don't throw, Harry," Snape said, shaking his head. No matter how many times Snape instructed Harry on this point, it always seemed to slip the little boy's attention. True to form, Harry paid no mind and continued throwing blocks. Snape fixed him with a stern look, but this too did not dissuade Harry. Suddenly one of his missiles hurtled through the air and to the glass end table by Snape's armchair, shattering a cup which had been resting upon it.

While Harry's reaction to this was wonder and delight, Snape's was quite the opposite. As Harry went to pick up another block to throw, Snape grabbed Harry's wrist.

"Stop."

"No!" squealed Harry, reaching out and hitting Snape on the nose.

"We do not hit, Harry, and he do not throw," Snape said, irritation mounting. There was a mess of glass all over the carpet and red liquid had spilled on the floor. Snape realized his fault in leaving the glass out, but he'd been tired from a day of teaching the night before, and Harry knew he wasn't supposed to be throwing his toys.

Snape picked up Harry abruptly, Harry still lashing out, hitting and crying.

"Pot play!" Harry protested, kicking his little feet into Snape's side.

Snape didn't have enough hands to hold Harry and block all his blows, and was getting beyond annoyed with Harry's behavior.

He dumped Harry into his crib and, forgoing a lecture, turned and walked right out. He told himself to take deep breaths and calm down, but he was overwhelmed and the spark of irritation sitting in his chest refused to go out.

He rather unceremoniously flopped down in his chair, a headache already pounding in his temples, as Harry shouted from his crib, not calling for Snape, but insisting that he needed to play. As soon as Snape sat however, he jumped back up. A small shard of glass had stabbed him, reminding him of the mess he had to clean up. Luckily, magic made what would normally be a painstaking task of gathering up the miniscule glass shards a quick process. Snape was also able to lift the stain, but as his job was completed, his temper was still high.

Harry hadn't stopped screaming, his cries getting louder and higher in pitch, which did nothing to calm Snape's nerves. Snape sunk to the floor, surprised at how angry he felt. He truly had been starting to care for the little Potter boy, no matter how often he denied it. Perhaps too much. Perhaps he'd started to spoil Harry. After all, when he'd first taken charge of the young boy, he hadn't been this temperamental. Harry had changed, almost as much as Snape had.

A painful thought twisted into Snape's mind. Was Harry going to grow up just like his father, because Snape had been too lenient? The idea that his style of bringing up a child would lead to the same arrogance, insufferability, and cruelty that James Potter had displayed made his insides harden.

He would not let that happen. He could not bear to see someone who had become his responsibility turn into the kind of person who tormented others for amusement.

As his resolve hardened, the thought which nagged at the back of his mind, telling him to check on Harry, dissolved completely. Harry was going to learn to behave.

Snape went into his study and shut the door. He had work to do. Harry could cry. Snape had cried plenty during his childhood and he'd survived. Taking out a roll of parchment on which he'd started notes and a thick potions book, Snape began devising a new potion that he needed to test.

Stubbornness gave way to panic as Harry realized Snape was not coming in to check on him. His cries changed from those of an irritated child to those of a frightened infant. Maybe Nape just didn't know he was sad. It wasn't nap time. Why wasn't Nape coming? Harry clutched his stuffed animal, his cries subsiding for a few moments. He sucked anxiously on his fist, hiccupping from the exertion his crying had brought upon him. Tears still dripped down his chubby cheeks, as he waited. And waited.

"Nape?" Harry whispered. It was like a bad dream. Once he'd been with people who made him happy like Nape did. But then those people had gone away. Something scary had happened and the smiling faces disappeared and he was all alone. Then there were new faces. Sometimes those faces smiled, but they smiled at a different baby. They only glowered down on him. Harry began to cry again when those faces surfaced in his mind.

"Nape!" he called. But no Nape came. Was Nape going to get rid of him and give him back to those people who spoke to them in angry voices and shoved him away. Was Nape going to do what they'd done? Why didn't anybody want him?

Harry began to wail once more in earnest. And still no Nape came to lift him from his crib and rock him in the nice chair and talk to him quietly till he fell asleep. The chair stayed empty, and Harry buried his face into the owl's belly, certain that it was his only friend left in the world.

A/N: Another longer chapter soon, I just needed to actually write again.


	29. Chapter 29

Two days later, sitting at the kitchen table, Snape felt a sharp pang of guilt, like a knife in the chest. Harry was silent. He wouldn't look up, eyes concentrated on the cheerios on his high chair's tray. He'd reverted back to the scared, hesitant little boy he'd been when he'd first come into Snape's care.

_I was wrong._ Snape thought to himself. There was no doubt about it. Harry had been a little mischievous, true, but he had been happy. This Harry ate less, and no longer spoke.

Snape watched him poke at his cheerios quietly, scooting them around on the tray but not eating any. Of the handful of cheerios which had been placed before him, Harry had eaten only five or six. Snape knew he needed to reevaluate his strategy. He had been too harsh with Harry a couple days before, and a rigorous class schedule the past couple days had prevented him from making a concentrated effort to revive Harry's spirits. In fact, whenever he tried to check on Harry between lessons, he always found Harry sitting in his playpen holding his owl, with his eyes squeezed shut. When Snape would pick him up, Harry would not flinch away, but he wouldn't cling on either. He would merely hold still until he was set down and then he'd just sit quietly. His behavior had Snape not only extremely worried, but also angry with himself. It seemed no matter what he did, he ended up doing a bad job of watching over Harry. He was feeling less and less like a protector, and more and more incapable.

With his morning free from any classes, until after lunch in fact, Snape determined to do his best to get Harry back to normal. He picked up Harry, taking the few steps necessary to cross into the living room, and set Harry down on the living room floor. Immediately Harry lay down on his side, curling slightly in a fetal position, and watching Snape with large, hardly blinking eyes.

"Can we do an activity?" Snape asked in a quiet voice, not so much gentle as tentative, a voice he could not recall every having spoken in before.

Harry made no motion to show he'd heard Snape's question, but instead continued to stare into his face, looking sad and small curled up on the ground.

Hoping the sight of toys might arouse the Potter boy to action, Snape opened the chest and took out a few blocks, a couple plastic animals, the "vroom" car, and a ball. He set these on the floor in front of Harry, but said nothing, hoping he would sit up and play with something.

After waiting for a couple minutes, with no movement on Harry's part, Snape was feeling discouraged. He moved the car closer to Harry, as if tempting him to just play with it. Harry remained unresponsive.

Feeling foolish but desperate Snape managed a "vroom" as he slid the car towards Harry. Instead of cheering him up, this made Harry's bottom lip start to stick out, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

Rejected. Snape felt very foolish, and the stab of guilt stuck him again. He had neglected Harry for too long the other day. His "discipline" had made Harry distant, and Snape worried that he would get sick again. If it continued much longer, Harry's hesitance to eat would lead to serious health concerns, especially because he'd been so malnourished before coming into Snape's custody. In addition, Dumbledore's warning that Harry needed to be played with or risk improper development haunted Snape, nagging him in the back of his mind. Silently, Snape put the toys away, seeing this tactic was not working, and decided to try something else.

Snape's next strategy seemed to fare no better. They were seated on the couch, Harry stiffly on Snape's lap. Harry didn't lean back against Snape's chest the way he normally did, but instead sat forward, which Snape knew was likely uncomfortable. Snape was reading out loud to Harry, and had begun reading the way he normally did, fairly monotone, not due to boredom but by default. However, as Harry continued to lack enthusiasm, Snape grew more animated, hoping to get a reaction out of Harry. A laugh, a squeal, a word, anything, but once again he ended his attempts, feeling frustrated as Harry didn't even pat the book, touching the pictures, which was his normal reaction to stories.

Lunch was another quiet affair, and afterwards Snape reluctantly placed Harry in the playpen in his office. He handed Harry his owl and knelt in front of the playpen, wondering what he could do to make Harry happy again. Harry hugged the owl with both arms, burying his face in its furry body.

"Be a good boy," Snape said feebly, hesitating a moment and then standing, and turning to walk into the classroom. Once Snape had left the office Harry lifted his face and looked around the office. Satisfied that he was alone, he laid down and cried, making sure to keep his sniffles quiet so no one would catch him.

Given the circumstances, it would have made sense for Snape to be distracted during his classes, but unfortunately for his students, Snape was sharper than ever. His feelings of incompetency with Harry led him to take added measures of control in the classroom. He began the class by deducting points from Gryffindor, and making a Hufflepuff cry.

When he went in to check on Harry after that first class, Harry's eyes were open but as soon as Harry became aware of Snape's presence he squeezed his eyes shut. Snape could see the glisten of tears on his cheek. Snape bent and wiped Harry's face dry, and Harry held completely still. Snape sighed and straightened up. He had another class to teach, and needed that to be his focus for the next hour. As Snape shut the office door behind him, he heard Harry let out a small whimper. While the sound was pitiful and made the knife of guilt twist deeper, at least it was sound. Snape took a deep breath, and swept into the classroom, instructing his class, as per usual, to turn to his favorite page. Page 394. If Snape had his way, every page would be that page. But Snape rarely did have his way.

After the third quiet meal of the day, Snape was emotionally drained. All day he'd cared so much about getting Harry to respond, and all day Harry had not complied. His guilt was compounded by the fact that he had caused Harry's behavior by ignoring him, and now that Harry was ignoring him in return Snape realized just how difficult it was to deal with the uncertainty. Snape cleaned up Harry's hardly touched food, and picked him up again. He carried him into his study, and sat him on his lap. Like it or not, he had papers to grade, and he knew that trying to read or play again would just lead to more disappointment. Once again, Harry didn't seem comfortable sitting with Snape. How ironic that when Snape actually was willing to let Harry sit there, Harry didn't want to be there. Snape sat Harry on the floor, with a sigh, and turned back to the rolls of parchment scattering his desk, essays by his third years on the differences between various types of poisons. Snape normally found delight in grading essays. He'd sit down with a long quill and a full well of red ink, and proceed to make the parchment bleed with corrections. He was unable to become absorbed in his task this time, though, glancing down at his charge every paragraph or so. After completing about a third of the essays piled on his desk, he noted that Harry had fallen asleep. He stooped to pick up Harry, and carried the little boy to his bedroom. Harry awakened a bit as Snape got him ready for bed, and slid his pajamas on over his head, but didn't stir as he was laid back down in his crib. Snape left Harry's room and returned to his study, making sure both doors were left open, in case Harry should happen to cry.

Finally having finished grading, Snape peeked into Harry's room and saw that the little boy was awake in his crib. He was laying on his side, with his back to the door, and his tiny body was shaking as he cried quietly into his owl.

An ache rose in Snape, and he scooped Harry out of his crib, and held him, settling in the leather rocking chair.

"Professor Snape is very sorry, Harry," he said, rocking back and forth. Apologies, normally a foreign concept to Severus Snape, were not a specialty of his, but this one was sincerely felt. Harry started crying louder, grabbing a fistful of Snape's robes in his left hand, burying his head in his shoulder. Snape patted Harry's back, relieved and oddly very emotional. Harry continued to cry for a few minutes, then calmed down.

"Love Nape," he whimpered, wiping at his eyes with his right hand, his left still full of robe.

Snape said nothing but smiled slightly, a real smile, not a sarcastic smirk or annoyed grimace, and continued to rock.

Harry lightly hit Snape on the chest, trying to get his attention.

"What is it Harry?" Snape asked quietly.

"Nape love Pot?"

Severus couldn't respond at first, but after a few minutes he realized Harry had fallen back to sleep, and as he laid him down in the crib he whispered, so softly that he hardly could hear it himself, "Yes."

**A/N: Awww, that was cheesy and really out of Snape's character, but really we needed a tender moment after a chapter that was kind of a downer. Don't worry though, Snape's not always going to be so mushy. He's still snarky, because who likes a non-sarcastic Snape?**


	30. Chapter 30

For a couple days everything was back to routine. Snape taught his classes, graded papers, "grudgingly" played with Harry, and in the nights worked on the mystery of the LeStrange journal. He'd had little time to truly delve into the matter, but was working on a new potion which he hoped would allow him to handle the book, breaking down more of the courses laid on it.

One afternoon between teaching third year Hufflepuffs –never a very pleasant experience, it seemed as though very few Hufflepuffs were actually adept at making potions, or anything really other than charms- and a double potions session with Gryffindor and Slytherin - much more entertaining- Snape laid Harry down for a nap and retreated to his office to work on the potion at hand.

He shook his head, noticing that in the time he'd spent away with the potion unattended the brew had started to settle, becoming viscous and slimy. The color had darkened as well. Dumbledore really did expect too much of him. A full class schedule, double agent, and babysitter. He had very little time to focus on these Death Eater matters, but he knew if he didn't get something figured out soon, he would land himself in trouble. Snape poured some powdered Florian leaf into the mixture and began stirring, three turns clockwise, two counter clockwise, when he heard Harry fussing.

Naturally.

Snape couldn't say he was surprised. Despite whatever soft spot he was developing for the Potter child, there was no denying the truth. He was terribly inconvenient. Casting a quick spell on the cauldron to keep it at a consistent temperature, and hoping the elongated heating wouldn't cause further problems to the brew, Snape stalked down the hall to check on Harry.

He was irritated. This was not the way Snape liked to work. Potions were his delight, and normally once he had devoted his attentions to a potion, he would continue to work on it until it was complete. Of course, there were times he would have to brew a potion multiple times, making minor revisions at each step to get it just right, but he never just left it sitting in the office, half done, let alone for three days.

"Harry, I hope you are pleased with the fact that my life is hardly anything I'd be willing to claim at this point," Snape said, lifting Harry from the crib.

"Doo dah, doo dah," Harry replied, wiggling his head all around.

"Fantastic. A silly mood." Snape said.

Harry had been getting these quite a bit lately. Ever since Snape had seemingly made amends a few nights before, Harry had overcompensated for the period of sadness and quiet by acting utterly…insane. Snape hardly knew how to react to these moods.

Setting Harry in a playpen in his office, Snape threw a desperate prayer towards the ceiling that Harry would entertain himself while he got some work done. This was a matter of importance, which grew more urgent every day and since arriving home Snape had accomplished next to nothing in deciphering it.

While Snape stirred and measured and made notes in the black bound leather notebook he kept on his desk, Harry played with chunky plastic animals, a gift that Professor Sprout had brought over a couple days before. He held in his right hand a smiling, almost painfully orange tiger and in his right he held a fangy, but of course also grinning, bat, wings spread out.

The tiger and the bat seemed to be killing one another as Harry hit them repeatedly together, and made little screaming noises in between giggling to himself. Snape, much to his credit, did not let this distract him from his work. A lesser man would've been compelled to watch the animated child, but Snape had a potion to complete and no amount of play shrieking and satisfied laughter would turn him from his task.

It wasn't until the bat and the tiger began having a heartfelt conversation that Snape looked up from his potion, wondering what on earth was going on in the little boy's head.

"Nape. La la la." Harry said, waving the tiger in the air.

Then he raised up the bat, shaking it for emphasis. "No, Pot. Nape busy." When Harry imitated Snape he got a very concentrated look on his face, his eyebrows drew together and he squinted his big green eyes.

Snape raised an eyebrow watching the exchange as Harry continued.

"Wahhh, Nape!" Harry said, back to waving the tiger, and then making sniffing sounds.

"Pot, pot, pot. Is ok," the bat said. Then the bat and the tiger did a little dance to a song Harry made up on the spot, consisting mostly of "la's" but with an occasional "Nape, Nape, Nape" thrown in.

Snape was dismayed to see such a portrayal of himself and by a bat, no less, but figured that as long as Harry was happy and keeping himself busy, he had best get done any work he could before his next class.

That night brought an occasion which Severus was loathe to attend.

"Are these staff meetings really so critical that we have them every week?" Snape asked Dumbeldore, sitting down at the long table in the Great Hall, and grabbing Harry's hands so he wouldn't start picking up dishes or throwing silverware.

Albus smiled, all twinkley eyed in typical Albus fashion, and shook a long finger at Snape. "Severus, they're hardly weekly, and you hardly show up."

"Only when I'm compelled, headmaster," Snape replied, voice snarky as ever. He hated these meetings. He disliked enduring the meaningless disputes between faculty members and he especially detested any situation in which he would have to see Professor Trelawney. Plus, with Harry there, Poppy and Minerva were sure to make a scene. Snape just hoped there would be no fire whisky at the table tonight, because Minerva under the influence was _not _a pretty sight.

Within ten minutes, the staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was assembled and waiting for Albus' word to begin the meal.

"Greetings," Dumbledore said, spreading his arms wide. He seemed to do this basically whenever he spoke to a group of more than eight people. It was an especial favorite when he was standing behind the owl podium and addressing the entire student body, but he used it in situations such as this as well. Snape wondered how he did that without feeling like he was always going in for an awkward hug. Of course, it was Dumbledore, so perhaps that point was moot.

"Welcome to our staff meeting!"

Dumbledore had also gone into his stage voice. Classic. Much as he respected the man, Snape found his theatrics a little…well…dramatic. But then, everyone couldn't deliver everything they said in a dead-pan drawl the way he did. The thought of Dumbledore trying to pull that off was legitimately terrifying.

As Dumbledore continued his opening statements, Snape suppressed a shudder as he noticed Sybill Trelawney was staring at him, her enormous bug like eyes unblinking and shining with unmasked adoration. Turning away, so he couldn't even glimpse the disturbing sight in his peripheral vision, Snape put a hand to his temple, bracing himself for the rest of the evening which still lay ahead of him.

Liberated at last, Harry quickly grabbed a fork off the table and proceeded to toss it at Flitwick. The handle end of the fork bounced off Flitwick's head. The small professor let loose a squeak and fell off his chair.

Albus laughed heartily at this, perhaps more heartily than was appropriate, then said, "It seems as though we're ready to eat! So enough with the rambling. We have hours for that later!"

_Kill me now. _ Snape thought in his head. _I'd prefer the Cruciatus to this._

Dumbledore clapped and the plates filled with food. Flitwick, with the help of Madam Pince, climbed back onto his chair, and everyone began serving themselves from the suddenly full platters in front of them.

Every time Snape lifted a utensil to his mouth, Harry whined and reached for it. He seemed to want a bite of every single thing Snape was eating. Severus had actively tried to prevent this, by feeding Harry before the meeting, but his attempts, as was often the case with Harry, seemed to be futile.

"Severus," Sybill crooned from across the table and three seats to the left. "The way you handle that child is most charming. It isn't surprising, however. I see you have a long life with many, many children ahead of you," she said, her voice irritatingly high-pitched.

"Oh, really?" Minerva asked, and, to Severus' horror, sipping from her goblet of fire whisky.

"Quite so. It is evident to anyone with the gift that our beloved potions master will be wed someday soon, and then will have many children."

Severus raised an eyebrow and tried to concentrate on how savory the potatoes were, rather than how horrifying this conversation was turning out to be.

"Oh, and many of those children," Trelawney continued. "Will have glasses." She simpered and readjusted her own glasses on her face.

Snape almost gagged.


	31. Chapter 31

It was hard for Snape to decide just what it was that he hated most about these faculty meetings. What was there to discuss? Nothing! Some of the other teachers seemed to enjoy talking about their experiences, but Severus would rather keep his experiences to himself.

Dumbledore was in the process of handing out white slips of paper on which they were supposed to write what they enjoyed most about teaching at Hogwarts. Then they were going to put them in a pile in the middle of the table, and share them. Snape could not see how this was constructive. He grabbed a fork from Harry's hand, preventing a near dislocation of an eyeball, and scribbled an answer on his slip of parchment. He had written "Taking points from Gryfindor." He hoped Minerva would appreciate his contribution, and smirked a bit to himself as he pushed the parchment to the pile on the table.

* * *

"Headmaster, how long must this function drag on for?" Snape muttered to Dumbledore almost two hours later. Flitwick had just given a presentation on how to properly grade students without including any personal bias. Snape almost felt that the presentation was geared directly towards him, and it was leaving him feeling a little miffed. Who was Flitwick to tell him how to assess his students? Snape was just about to conclude that someone that short should not have the power to tell him what to do. Then he remembered that Harry was also rather short and also rather influential.

"Ah, Severus, I was wondering when you would begin your groanings again. They are an important part of each meeting," Dumbledore responded, altogether cheerfully.

Harry was getting increasingly squirmy and that was adding to Snape's irritation with the whole situation.

Rather than giving the old wizard a terse reply, Snape merely removed his hair from Harry's fist and gave the old man a look which let him know he was _not _amused.

Dumbledore grinned and stood up, spreading his arms wide and declaring, "What a fabulous meeting this has been! My friends. It is clear that the students of Hogwarts are in good hands. Now, before I let you go, I think it's important that we discuss the upcoming event, being All Hallow's Eve."

Flitwick clapped his hands and began hopping up and down on his chair. "I can enchant floating candles again!" he squeaked.

"As you have for the past twenty years?" Minerva asked, with a wry smile.

"Yes!' Flitwick responded enthusiastically.

"That would be marvelous." Dumbledore said, smiling. "Who else would like to contribute to the atmosphere?" The way Dumbledore said this implied "Now what are the rest of you going to do, because you aren't leaving until you've agreed to do something" but of course Albus would never threaten them that way.

Minerva volunteered to do some transfiguring of the suits of armor, Professor Sprout declared that she'd bring over sprigs of her creepiest plants, and Filch growled that he would be more than willing to actually carry out Detention in the ways he normally suggested.

"Severus?" Dumbledore said. "Is there something you'd like to do to help? You've been very quiet all meeting."

"Other than your unhelpful comments about Gryfindors," sniffed Minerva.

That made Snape smile slightly, but he was also extremely irritated. How could Dumbledore ask him to help more, when he, Severus, was the one taking charge of Harry, who was currently poking Snape repeatedly in the stomach and whispering "Poke, poke, poke."

Snape was proud, at least, that Harry had the decorum to poke quietly. He attributed it to his fabulous mentoring in how to behave in social situations.

"Did you have something in mind?" Snape asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore said, sounding almost like a delighted child. "I thought maybe you and Harry could carve some pumpkins for us to put on the tables."

This was an utterly preposterous idea. It was stupid, and for a number of reasons.

1. Snape did not carve pumpkins.

2. They did not need carved pumpkins.

3. Harry was too young to carve a pumpkin.

4. Oh, combining knives and babies, that plan has wisdom inherent all throughout each and every aspect.

Snape raised an eyebrow at Dumbledore, not wanting to explain how ill-conceived this plan was. Dumbledore seemed to be getting more and more of those with each day.

"In fact, I had some of the house elves take pumpkins down to your chambers already."

Snape knew that he needed to stop being surprised by these things. He shook his head "no" but it wasn't an actual "no" it was more of a shake of disbelief.

Dumbledore then asked Madam Pince to decorate the infirmary so that any wounded students could still feel the holiday spirit. Snape was pretty sure this was the best idea yet, of course he only meant this in the sarcastic sense.

Soon enough all the faculty had different assignments and they were finally free to go.

"Bye bye!" Harry called, opening and closing his hand in his typical baby wave as Snape swept out of the Great Hall.

"Better save some of that cheerful attitude for later, Harry," Snape mumbled. "We have pumpkins to attend to."

A/N: next chapter will be up this week I promise. And you have lots of Halloween-y goodness coming your way.


	32. Chapter 32

A/N: Dear readers. I have a lot of feels about this chapter. This is Halloween with Nape and Pot. It's also a long one. I'm excited for your feedback!

It was Friday afternoon, classes had just ended, and Snape grimaced at the rather large stack of pumpkins which still sat in his office. He felt as though Dumbledore had really pushed his bounds here. Having Snape double cross the Death Eaters, spy on them, and report back, all the while putting his life in jeopardy was doable. Becoming a full time babysitter was somehow working out better than anticipated, granted, anticipation had been for utter failure. But turning Snape's office into some kind of freaky indoor pumpkin patch? Snape was not amused.

Snape was, to say the least, undergoing enormous amounts of stress.

Harry was teething, and was therefore constantly shoving his entire fist into his mouth and sucking on it vigorously. He would then take his hand out of his mouth and try to touch Snape with it. This direct application of large amounts of slobber was not something Severus found in the least delightful. He also didn't appreciate the fact that Harry would wake up in the night crying and poking his gums with his little pointer fingers to show Snape where the "ouch" was.

One night Harry had woken Snape up by shrieking in the next room for the third time, and Snape knew it needed to stop. He entered the room and cast a quick soothing spell over Harry's crib. That had stopped the crying, but it knocked Harry out cold for the rest of the night and the whole next morning. Such a reaction to the spell made Snape hesitant to repeat the action. He knew that mixing magic and babies sometimes caused problems. Basically, the combination of _anything _and babies was liable to cause problems. Pumpkins included.

That was another source of stress for Severus. Everyone seemed so paranoid about Halloween this year. Snape had tried to explain that just because it was going to be the 31 of October, it did not mean that he had to take Harry around to see the other professors and ask for sweets. All the other teachers seemed to disagree however. Minerva insisted that if Snape did not take Harry trick-or-treating, he would be responsible for the later emotional scarring of the boy whom he was being called upon to protect. The others argued that Harry deserved a chance to have a normal childhood, even if he was growing up as a baby under Snape's care. Severus, for his part, found this argument completely ridiculous, but Dumbledore had caught hold of the idea, and had even brought Snape a costume for Harry to wear.

He had appeared at Snape's door one evening, which gave the potions master all sorts of wary feelings. His uncommonly accurate intuition told him something unpleasant was afoot, and it proved to be correct.

"Good evening, Severus," Dumbledore had grinned. The already visible amusement in his eyes made Snape uncomfortable. That look never entailed any joy for him.

"If you insist, headmaster," Snape responded.

"I heard you were thinking of taking Harry trick-or-treating," Dumbledore began.

_I was not thinking any such thing, and you know it all to well. _Snape knew better than to interject here. Dumbledore had come down to the dungeons for this. Merely inserting the fact that Snape had no such intention wasn't going to dissuade the old wizard.

"I found the idea to be an utterly stupendous one," the headmaster continued. "And knowing that you probably weren't going to have time to think of a good costume, I brought you one, I had in an old drawer in my office."

Before Snape could ask why Dumbledore was keeping infant's costumes in his office drawers he had to keep himself from shrieking as Dumbledore whipped out a furry onesie with a hood.

"It's a panda outfit," Dumbledore said, looking so pleased with himself that Snape was fairly certain there was a law against it.

"I see that," Snape said, mildly horrified, but reaching out to take the costume nonetheless. There were ears on the hood and a little round tail on the bum.

"If you like, I can scrounge up a matching one for you, Severus," Dumbledore was clearly only moments away from laughing.

Snape nearly choked. "Oh I think one panda this Halloween will be more than enough, thank you." Snape said perhaps more than a little impolitely, shutting the door.

Once the door had shut, Dumbledore rapped on it once more.

Snape grimaced, pulling the door open.

"I just wanted to remind you, Severus, all the decorations are going up on Saturday. I can't wait to see the jack-o-lanterns!"

Snape smiled tightly, looking more pained than anything else, murmured "Good night headmaster," and shut the door again.

Now, to add to the stress of Halloween on top of classes on top of Harry on top of life in general, Snape had received an urgent owl from Lucius, saying he needed to speak with Snape that evening.

Well that was fine. Just fine. If he was so _urgent _ to talk then talk they would. And if Dumbledore was so insistent on having thirty carved pumpkins, then he'd have them. And they'd be carved without the use of magic. Dumbledore had made that specification clear. Apparently they could use magic to preserve the pumpkins and to make them float, but not to carve. Snape knew Dumbledore was being aggravating on purpose, almost testing Snape's limits. Well Snape had handled more difficult foes than pumpkins, and he was not about to cave now. He cast a shrinking spell on the mound of pumpkins in his office, packed the mini-pumpkins into a pouch, scooped up a sleeping Harry, grabbed his Essentials Kit and went to catch a train. He was needed at Malfoy Manor.

* * *

"Severus...what is this?" Lucius said, one eyebrow arched upward, his expression sincerely confused.

"This," Snape said, restoring the size of the last pumpkin. "Is called multi-tasking. I'm here because I consider you a friend and did not want to ignore your message. However, I have other responsibilities to attend to, and if I'm to share your burden, then I would only hope you'd share mine."

They were standing in the Malfoy's elaborate dining hall. On the extraordinarily long, dark wood table were piled several pumpkins, and the rest were on the floor nearby. Harry was asleep in a baby carrier that Snape kept in shrunken form in the Essentials Kit, restoring to full size when he needed to transport Harry or leave him at least somewhat unattended. The baby carrier used to be upholstered with pictures of smiling hippos, but Snape had changed those to smiling snakes, making it at least a mildly appropriate form of decoration.

"So," Lucius said slowly, making sure he understood. "We are going to discuss Death Eater business...while we carve pumpkins."

For the first time in a long time, and the first time Lucius had ever witnessed, Snape allowed a full, genuine smile to cross his face. "You are correct," he said.

"Well, I guess...let's begin?" Lucius said, sitting in one of the high-backed chairs and using his wand to quickly cast a spell on the table and ground around the table, so that the gloopy insides of the pumpkins would not affect or stain any of the Malfoy's expensive furnishings.

* * *

The message which Lucius wished to convey Snape was one of discontent among the Death Eaters. Accusations of betrayal were flying between them. Many were accused of going soft, or being disloyal. Members were calling each other into suspicion left and right. The only Death Eaters not accused of effective "treason" to the group were those like Bellatrix LeStrange, who were sitting in cells in Azkaban.

"You and I," Lucius said with grave seriousness, looking up from the mouth he was carving on an especially large pumpkin to look Severus in the eye. "Are the most heavily criticized at the moment. You are still under suspicion of being a spy for the other side, which I have argued is completely preposterous. There are those who believe in you, but there are others who want to see you tried, or at the very least would like to regain possession of Bellatrix's diary."

Snape shook his head. "The diary in the hands of another Death Eater would lead to even more contention, and could prove dangerous for anyone the possessor was displeased with."

"I'm fully aware, and so are some of the others," Lucius said, lifting another pumpkin from the ground and beginning to saw around the top. "Which is why you haven't been contacted by any of the others as of yet. Many still believe that the diary will be safest kept in your hands, and no one disputes that you have the best chances of actually mastering its secrets."

Snape didn't answer for a moment, because he was intent on the pattern he was carving. When he finally spoke it was to say, "The unrest among the Death Eaters is concerning. Why do they suspect you?"

Lucius laughed in a way which was almost a snort, but yet managed to be dignified. Such was the complexity of Lucius Malfoy. "They say I'm spineless, all because I'm attempting to protect Narcissa and Draco," he answered. "A man has a right to protect his family."

Lucius rarely spoke so honestly. For just a moment his aristocratic drawl disappeared and he spoke with true sincerity.

The moment was so genuine that Snape had to lay down his pumpkin carving knife.

Lucius continued, his composure regained, but his words just as serious as they'd been a moment ago. "I fear that my family is in danger," Lucius stated. "Alecto Carrow has implied to some of the others that I would die for Narcissa before I'd die for the Dark Lord." Lucius paused, regarding Severus with wary eyes, assessing how much he should disclose.

Snape said nothing, waiting for Lucius to finish.

"And if any of them ever confronted me on that note, I fear that in all my skill with words, I would still be unable to deny it."

"I would not side against you, Lucius," Severus said gravely. "You are my friend, a commodity I find to be extremely rare. I've sworn to you to care for Draco if anything should ever happen. While I stand by my word to act as Draco's godfather should you and Narcissa ever be compromised, I will also do all in my power to keep such a situation from arising."

The air was tense. Neither man generally spoke such words, and conversations like this were not the norm between Death Eaters. Lucius nodded, knowing that he needn't thank Severus or say anything more on the subject. He was concerned for his family, and knowing he had an ally was all he needed.

He turned back to his pumpkin, and after a moment said, "Severus, my pumpkin is better than yours," his drawl back in place.

Snape smirked. "If you must deceive yourself, by all means, carry on."

* * *

Half an hour later, both men still sat at the table. Their arms were getting sore from sawing through pumpkins, and the pile of uncompleted pumpkins was diminishing too slowly for either of their tastes. When Narcissa swept into the room with Draco on her hip, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Exactly what is going on?" she asked.

"Happy Halloween, dear," Lucius responded with a wry grin, not looking up as he finished carving a triangular eye.

"Punkin, dada?" Draco said, pointing.

"I asked Severus for a favor," Lucius explained as Narcissa took a seat next to him, setting Draco on the floor. "Now he is of the opinion that I owe him a favor in return, and apparently they have him doing some rather unorthodox tasks at Hogwarts."

"Well I guess there's only one thing to be done for it," Narcissa replied. "Hand me a pumpkin and a knife. It's been far too long since I've done this."

As the three adults carved pumpkin after pumpkin, Draco crawled over to Harry, who was still sleeping in his seat. Draco poked Harry repeatedly until he woke up, fussing and whimpering.

"Apologies, Severus," Narcissa said, as Snape got up to unfasten Harry from the baby carrier.

"He's been sleeping for hours," Snape said. "Having him awake now means I may actually get some sleep tonight."

As Harry was lifted from his chair he stopped his fussing and rubbed his face happily against Snape's shoulder.

"Nape." he said in contentment. Snape held him for a second, making sure that he was truly awake and done crying, then set him on the floor with Draco.

"You two play nice," he instructed.

* * *

Harry was sad to say good bye to "Daco" and fussed the entire way home. No amount of fussing could truly dampen Snape's spirits however. All the pumpkins were carved. That made the Halloween score Snape-1, Dumbledore-0.

Indeed, the following morning when Snape presented Dumbledore with the jack-o-lanterns all ready for being used in the halls and on the tables in the Great Hall, Dumbledore seemed rather surprised.

"I'm delighted with these!" he exclaimed as he looked at all the pumpkins.

His favorites all seemed to be the ones Narcissa had carved, she was clearly the most artistic of the lot. Snape didn't care that his pumpkins weren't the most admired. He honestly couldn't care what Dumbledore thought about his pumpkin carving techniques or creative tendencies. He merely cared that he had proved he was capable of completing even the stupidest and most time consuming of tasks.

* * *

The pumpkins and enchanted suits of armor, the bobbing skulls and the rowdier than usual castle ghosts had all the students excited for Halloween, meaning they paid less attention in class, leading to Snape's retracting of even more than usual house points. So, by Wednesday night everyone was in a pretty good mood.

The teachers throughout the day had made it clear that they had goodies for Harry, so Snape had better bring Harry to a couple of the classrooms where the teachers would be congregating, drinking fire whiskey and having their own Halloween celebrations. They'd been so adamant that Snape decided spending twenty minutes taking Harry to a few different rooms to get a few treats or toys would be exponentially easier than dealing with the glares and angry exhalations from the other teachers for the rest of the year.

After dinner, Snape told Harry it was time for a very "exciting adventure" and that he would need to be dressed in the "ceremonial garb for the occasion."

When Harry laid eyes upon the Panda onesie he squealed with delight. After pulling the little hood over Harry's dark hair, Snape set Harry on the living room floor so he could take a picture. He stuck with his reasoning he had used for taking the first picture of Harry. There were just some moments that needed to be documented if he was going to play his part convincingly.

Harry was hard to snap a picture of, because he refused to orient himself in such a way that Snape could get a shot of his face. Harry was crawling all over the floor, oo oo ooing at everything and wiggling his little bum as he scurried from the couch to the chair to the coffee table, the little black tail making Harry's particular crawling style even more strange to witness. When Snape was finally able to get Harry to look at him for a moment he took the picture. Harry was giggling to himself in between his oos, as if he was telling himself the funniest jokes.

"It's time to introduce you to the first of what will eventually be an indoctrination of unnecessary events to spoil you," Snape said, scooping Harry up, and heading upstairs. "However, I counsel you to refrain from getting full of yourself or accustomed to too much doting. It never does a person good, and you are not going to be one of those bratty children with the misconception that the universe revolves around them."

Harry giggled. "Si'y Nape." he said, batting Snape on the nose.

Snape sighed as they reached the first classroom.

"Say it, Severus!" Minerva hiccuped, It was evident she'd already had more than two glasses of fire whiskey. Happy Halloween indeed.

Snape sighed. "Trick of treat."


	33. Chapter 33

A/N: I'm going to try writing again and see how it goes. It's been a very long time, but I've missed working on this, so here's me, trying it out.

It was late. But the only time Snape ever had alone with his thoughts was when it was "late". Even then, Harry interrupted plenty frequently. He was still teething. Snape was tempted to look up a spell that would hurry the process along – something along the lines of regrowing bones but instead of bringing in teeth for the first time.

He had been researching the idea halfheartedly earlier that week, but after finding some truly horrifying results – most producing children with teeth like those of a beaver or a horse – Snape dropped the idea.

Now he was working. He'd received an owl from Lucius that morning which had bothered him all day. Normally when he was in a foul mood his students knew it. His ever frequent "ten points from Gryffindor" would usually increase on a day when he was feeling agitated, but not today.

Today it had been all he could do to give the instructions clearly – an explosion or injured student would hardly lessen his stress levels – and then monitor them halfheartedly.

Now as his teaching day was done, Harry was asleep in his crib, and Snape had firmly washed his hair, chastising it for getting even oiler due to stress he sat in his study with Lucius's letter.

_Severus. I'm aware of your many duties and obligations and feel no desire to pressure you. Others disagree. If you don't provide some news of the diary soon, you may find yourself in danger._

The letter was short. The smaller the note, the quicker it could be delivered, meaning less chances of anything being intercepted.

Lucius was clearly risking himself here. If the other Death Eaters were murmuring against Snape, they wouldn't wait long to turn on the Malfoys as well.

Heaving a sigh, Snape bent over the diary. He wished the stupid thing had never been recovered. He had plenty on his plate without trying to break Bellatrix's crazy spells and enchantments. Maybe if she'd hexed the thing like a normal witch he could work this out quicker, but her insanity was manifest in her spells, and Snape felt he actually had to forgo logic to discover its secrets.

Luckily, Harry slept soundly that night. Working undistracted through the long hours that Severus could claim as his own, he finally set his wand down at 4:38 precisely. That was something. The book lay open on the table in front of him. Certain pages still refused to turn. Magical inkblots were still appearing over large passages. Snape knew his task wasn't done, but this would hopefully be progress enough to keep him in the clear for at least the rest of the term. The Death Eaters, while violent and generally ruthless, surely couldn't be so unreasonable as to expect him to completely blow his cover by failing to carry on his day to day routine.

Grabbing a scrap of parchment and a quill he scrawled a quick note to Lucius. His normally careful, meticulous handwriting was sloppy and betrayed his exhaustion.

_Lucius, I've opened the diary. Please report that at your earliest convenience. The secrets aren't all available yet – many hexes still in place – but I've got it open. Be safe. Severus._

He looked at the note for a moment, debating whether or not he should have omitted that last line, but decided he was glad it was there. He rolled it tightly, and was about to make a quick trip up to the owlery before any students would be there, when a cry from Harry's room made him turn back.

Harry was standing in his crib, tearstained and wet.

Snape winced. Of course he was wet – he hadn't been checked on all night. Snape refused to feel guilty – Harry hadn't cried so he hadn't checked on him. Besides, he'd been awfully busy with important matters. Harry's momentary discomfort had absolutely zero, repeat NO, effect on his conscious.

Soon Harry was dry and changed, and Snape knew he didn't have long if he wanted to get the owl off quickly. Harry couldn't very well be left alone now that he was awake – he already had enough abandonment issues – so Snape carried him up to the long, spiral stairs to visit the owls.

Harry, sitting on Severus's left hip, was very excited by this little adventure. He hadn't left the dungeons in three days. Nape had been busy and tired, and so they went on no trips, but now, here they went! Up, up, up!

Every window they passed was exciting. The sun was only barely, barely beginning to rise, peeking tentatively above the horizon. Its most bold rays played on the surface of the lake where the giant squid lived, and kissed the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, which, this fall morning, didn't truly look so sinister.

Finally they reached the top of the tower. Snape thought it a little ridiculous, the amount of stairs in this castle. He wasn't one to extol the virtues of Muggle technology, but they really had something going with the elevator idea. It struck him that perhaps this wizarding world of his was just a bit archaic. Muggles could even send mail or correspond more quickly than by sending owls.

Snape frowned as he considered the lack of advances the wizard society had taken on that front since…ever, but had no way of confronting the issue at present, and therefor pushed it aside.

"What?" Harry said, eyes wide, "What?" His little face was bright and excited and he couldn't turn his head fast enough to see all the owls around him.

"Owls, Harry," Snape said calmly, finding the correct owl out of the dozens perched all about in the somewhat crowded space. "Like your stuffed toy."

Harry nodded and reached out his arms, wanting to snuggle up to one like he did with the owl in his crib.

"Owly, owly, owly" he sang, wiggling slightly as he reached for the nearest owl, a huge black thing who was holding out its foot patiently for Snape to tie the scrap of paper to its ankle.

"Harry, this 'owly' will not hug you, I promise. Please stop provoking it." Snape said, his attention focused on affixing the note to the owl's leg will still holding Harry. It wasn't easy and it brought Harry uncomfortably close to the irritable bird.

"Owly, owly, hugs!" Harry sang.

As the bird nipped Harry on his fingers, Snape was prepared to have a screaming, fussing child to coddle who had just been told the hug wouldn't work out. He was rather surprised when rather than crying Harry's nose wrinkled in frustration and he angrily bopped the owl on the head.

The owl ruffled its feathers, turning its large eyes from the baby and flapping its wings for take off, the message securely tied now.

"Bad owly!" Harry proclaimed as the bird vanished out the window. Then turning his big green eyes on Snape said sincerely, "No owly hug. Nape hug."

With that he nuzzled Snape's shoulder with his head, his already messy hair getting even more sticky-uppy and hugged him tight.

"No bite," he instructed sternly, continuing his hug.

"Only if you're very, very naughty." Snape said with a wry smile and started back down the long flights of stairs.


	34. Chapter 34

This was an absolute nightmare. Not the recurring one where he taught an entire potions class without his robes on. Not the haunting one where he watched Lily die. Not the completely unexplainable dream where he turned into a bat and was chased from the Divinations tower by Professor Trewlawny.

Nor, indeed, the kind of nightmare that Severus could shake off upon waking up – because he was awake.

This kind of nightmare was the living, breathing kind where somehow a little boy could suddenly walk and was getting into every. Single. Thing.

He should have expected it. Harry had been pulling himself up on furniture for some time. And his frantic crawling was bound to turn into walking at some point, certainly.

At first, it hadn't been so bad. Snape had been reading the Daily Prophet while Harry played with his animal toys at his feet. Harry had been playing quietly that day – a true treat for Severus who hardly got to enjoy a moment of quiet anymore – and Snape had only looked down because he felt a pull on the cushion he sat upon.

Harry was pulling himself up, and smiling up at Snape, waiting for praise.

"Good standing," Severus said, noncommittally. He understood he needed to validate Harry's progress if he were going to improve, but standing really wasn't that tremendous of a feat, was it?

His apathy disappeared as Harry turned his shining eyes from Snape's face, and with all the focus he could muster let go of the chair, and took a few wobbling steps forward.

Snape dropped the paper, watching as Harry toddled across the room. Three, four, five wiggling steps, and then down he fell. Waiting for a cry of alarm at the fall, Severus stood from the chair, about to reassure Potter that his effort had been valiant indeed, but Harry pushed himself up, resolutely, and began to walk again.

Snape felt pleased. He wasn't raising a fusser or a quitter. No, Harry was turning into quite the motivated, centered young man. As Harry reached the sofa, he turned and beamed at Snape who crossed the room quickly and knelt at Harry's side.

"Well done, Mr. Potter," he said, very seriously. "That was some fine walking."

"Oh, Pot walk!" Harry said, nodding his head, clearly very pleased with himself. "Pot walk like Nape. Pot walk all the ways."

Snape had encouraged him all that evening. He'd taken Harry's chubby little fist in his hand and helped him walk from the living room to the kitchen. When Harry's legs began to wobble even more, Snape stood behind Harry and held both his hands, Harry reaching over his head and concentrating on each step.

As Snape put Harry in his crib he told him what a good job he had done that day, and how they would practice walking again tomorrow.

He wished he'd never said it. The next day, Harry was beyond practicing, and was all about doing. Severus had set him on the floor in the kitchen to play for a bit while he got their breakfast. His back had been turned for all of twelve seconds when there was a smash and a, "Oops."

Harry had pulled the drawer clean out from the cabinet, and forks and spoons were everywhere. Snape was glad the drawer hadn't landed on Harry's head, and moved to pick up the cutlery. He reminded himself not to be frustrated. Harry was a child. He was learning to walk. That would mean less carrying about, which would certainly be a good thing for his image. Sometimes messes were made and accidents happened. There was no use berating the boy for this.

It wasn't until he had replaced the drawer and returned to grab their bowls and another clatter of objects falling made him turn that he realized this walking thing might not be all positive.

From then on, it had only gotten worse.

That evening he had taken Harry and sat him firmly on his lap. "Is there anything in this room," he said. "That can stay any lower than two feet from the ground? I'm beginning to seriously doubt it."

Harry had been walking off, opening drawers, removing contents, grabbing things and pulling things and just been a handful all day. And Severus was tired.

The next day was even worse. Snape was feeling extremely frustrated. It didn't matter that he had moved things to higher surfaces, and that he had cast annoying spells on all his own cupboards and drawers so they were difficult to open. Harry was still toddling about, and generally wandering off.

"I'm just not going to chase you anymore," Snape said finally. "I've child proofed things as well as I know how. If you want to wander, wander."

Harry didn't seem to mind this new arrangement at first. He mostly just played with his toys while Snape sat in his armchair, scribbling notes in his black notebook. He had another book open on his lap and was muttering to himself as he glanced down at the pages in between writing his own notes.

Then Harry decided the living room wasn't a good place to play, and blocks weren't a good game. A good game was Find Pot.

He wandered out of the room and down the hall. Every few feet he'd stumble a bit, but he'd push himself up and keep going. Snape had left the door to his room open and Harry smiled. Nape hardly ever let him play in here.

For a few moments Harry patted at the bed, trying to devise a way to climb on top of it, but it seemed to be rather out of the question. Finally he settled for lifting the bottom of the comforter and crawling underneath. He clapped his hands in pleasure at this new fort he'd created and waited patiently for Nape to come and get him and tell him he had been clever.

Snape, for his part, just assumed Harry had gone to his room to find a new toy or some such thing. He continued his work on the LeStrange diary. He expected Harry to either come walking back in or to call at any moment. When neither happened, Snape supposed he was just learning to entertain himself.

He gave a slight start as a knock on the door shook him from his studies. He answered it dutifully, and frowned to see Minerva standing there.

"You didn't come eat in the Great Hall," she said.

"No. Harry's been learning to walk. Contained spaces seem a bit more reasonable at the moment." Snape replied.

Minerva beamed. "He's walking! Wonderful! Where is the smart boy?" she asked, peering around Severus for a glimpse of the child.

"Playing. Walking. Causing small amounts of mayhem. Is there something you came to say?" Snape couldn't imagine it was such a big deal that he hadn't been dining with the others. Not enough to drag Minerva down to the dungeons.

"I've actually just come to deliver this mail," she said, holding out a couple of envelopes. "You weren't there when the owls arrived, and after dinner I'd nearly forgotten I'd grabbed the mail for you."

Snape said nothing, just accepted the letters and made to shut the door.

Minerva sniffed in disapproval. "You're welcome," she said. "And I sure hope you're teaching the Potter boy better manners than that." Her speech concluded, she turned and made her way out of the dungeons.

Snape shut the door and carried the mail to his chair. He was excellent at teaching Harry manners. Harry's manners were exquisite when he wasn't fussing or hitting or pulling or yelling.

His prickliness at his parenting being insulted faded as Severus realized the first letter was in Lucius' hand. This seemed an awful lot of correspondence, especially when they were supposed to be discreet. The news must be urgent.

_Just heard from Crabbe – Sharra's decided to take matters into her own hands. Not about the journal, about the boy. You're not safe. Potter isn't safe._

The letter wasn't signed. If it had been intercepted, Lucius would have been in indescribable danger from the other Death Eaters.

The kind of danger Snape was in now.

A jolt of fear suddenly hit him. Where was Harry?

He moved quickly, headed straight for Harry's room, worried about how quiet it was.

It was apparent in an instant that Harry wasn't in his room. Where was he?

"Harry?" Snape called, his voice less level than normal. "Harry!" Even less calm.

He was about to look in the study when he noticed his door was a sliver open. He normally was careful to shut the door. He liked order and cleanliness and his bedroom was the only place he felt he truly preserved that these days.

He entered the room and felt a great relief at his askew comforter, a Harry sized lump on the floor beneath its folds.

He lifted the blanket and Harry grinned at him.

"Nape find Pot!" Harry exclaimed. Then turning very serious he looked at Snape intently and said, "Good Nape. 'Mart Nape."

"Up you come, Harry," Snape said, lifting him and striding out of the room. "We need to have a word with the Headmaster."


End file.
